A   POPULAR 

HISTORY  OF 
FRANCE 


BY 


B.  VAN  VORST 


A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


gPH¥.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS 


POPULAR  HISTORY 
OF  FRANCE 


BY 

B.  VAN    VORST 


WITH  NINETY-TWO  ILLUSTRATIONS 
AND  TWO  MAPS 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1918,  by 
FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved 


PREFACE 

For  the  last  four  years  the  eyes  of  the  world 
have  been  fixed  upon  France.  From  the  far  cor- 
ners of  the  earth,  from  the  East  and  from  the 
West,  soldiers  have  come  to  fight  upon  the  soil 
of  this  country,  side  by  side  with  the  French, 
against  an  invasion  of  the  Huns. 

Millions  of  Americans  have  landed  in  France. 
More  are  coming  every  day.  Many  of  them 
have  never  crossed  the  ocean  before.  All  of 
them  want  to  know  something  about  the  people 
with  whom  they  are  thrown  daily  into  close  con- 
tact. Yet  it  is  not  a  time  when  men  may  sit  down 
to  study  the  problems  of  the  past. 

The  purpose  therefore  of  this  little  book  is  to 
give  a  rapid  review  of  the  history  of  France,  a 
brief  account  of  the  important  events  which  have 
taken  place  since  the  First  Battle  of  the  Marne 
— fought  against  the  Huns  in  451 — together 
with  a  short  presentation  of  the  most  eminent 
people,  the  great  men  and  women,  who  have  de- 
termined these  events. 

In  a  word  this  is  a  concise  summary  of  the 
progress  of  civilization  in  France,  and  of  the 
principal  movements  which  have  encouraged 
greater  political  unity  in  the  country,  greater 
freedom  and  knowledge  among  the  people, 


2133471 


vi  PREFACE 

greater  chivalry  in  their  customs,  greater  com- 
merce with  the  outside  world. 

(A  list  of  the  rulers  of  France  in  their  chron- 
ological order  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the 
book.) 


CONTENTS 

I.    EARLY  DAYS  Pages 

Gauls  and  Romans 9 

The  First  Battle  of  the  Marne 13 

II.    THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

The  Merovingians IS 

The  Carolingians 16 

The  Normans 19 

The  Capetians 20 

The  Feudal  System      .                       21 

The  Crusades 25 

The  Orders  of  Chivalry 32 

The  Commons 33 

Louis  IX,  the  Saint 36 

The  States  General -4° 

The  Hundred  Years'  War 41 

III.  JEANNE  D'ARC 

IV.  MODERN  TIMES 

Louis  XI 81 

Great  Inventions  and  Discoveries 83 

The  Chevalier  Bayard 84 

The  Renaissance 85 

The  Massacre  of  Saint-Barthelemy 9° 

Henri  of  Navarre 91 

Richelieu 94 

Louis  XIV 96 

The  Philosophers 105 

V.  THE  REVOLUTION 

Causes  and  Outbreak 109 

The  Call  to  Arms "6 

Bonaparte 122 

VI.    THE  XIX  CENTURY 

The  First  Empire 126 

The  Restoration I4° 

The  Second  Empire *44 

The  Franco-German  War 148 

The  Siege  of  Paris 15° 

The  Third  Republic 154 

The  French  Colonies    .                             166 


A  POPULAR  HISTORY 
OF  FRANCE 

I.  —  EARLY  DAYS 

GAULS   AND    ROMANS 

Long  ago  France  was  known  under  the  name 
of  Gaul.  Its  frontiers,  including  almost  all  of 
Switzerland,  and  Belgium,  reached  to  the  east 
and  to  the  north  as  far  as  the  river  Rhine. 

The  beauty  and  the  riches  of  this  country  were 
such  that  the  Romans — great  explorers  and 
colonizers — who  penetrated  as  far  as  the  valley 
of  the  Rhone,  wanted  to  settle  and  live  in  this 
pleasant  land,  where  the  sun  shone  on  fertile 
plains,  and  where  the  wine  was  abundant. 

In  the  year  58  B.  C.,  Julius  Caesar,  the  great- 
est of  the  Roman  generals,  determined  to  take 
entire  possession  of  Gaul. 

The  inhabitants,  or  the  Gauls,  commanded  by 
their  famous  leader,  Vercingetorix,  made  an 
heroic  stand  against  this  Roman  invasion.  For 
eight  years  they  defended  their  country  bravely. 
Then,  finally,  in  50,  Cassar's  armies,  victorious, 
occupied  the  whole  of  Gaul,  which  for  400  years 
remained  under  Roman  rule. 


io     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

The  two  races  which  were  united  in  this  Gallo- 
Roman  civilization  showed,  as  many  as  two  thou- 
sand years  ago,  the  very  same  characteristics 
which  to-day  distinguish  the  French.  The  Gauls, 
or  Celts,  were  idealists,  the  Romans  were  law 


Vcrcingetorix,    Chief    of    the    Gauls,    surrenders    to    Julius    Cssar    in 
52  B.  C. 

makers ;  the  Gauls  were  temperamental,  they  had 
a  contempt  of  death,  they  were  extremely  valiant, 
they  believed  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and 
they  studied  philosophy,  ethics,  and  the  natural 
sciences.  They  were  generous,  disinterested, 
lovers  of  justice,  always  ready  to  defend  the 
weak  against  those  who  wished  to  oppress  them. 
The  Romans,  on  the  contrary,  were  methodi- 
cal; they  preferred  to  conquer  others  rather  than 


EARLY  DAYS  11 


to  give  them  their  freedom.  Rome  was  built  by 
the  slaves  which  the  Roman  armies  had  brought 
back  captive  from  the  regions  their  forces  had 
invaded. 

From  a  material  point  of  view,  the  influence 
of  the  Romans  was  undoubtedly  civilizing:  they 
built  bridges,  aqueducts  and  roads  of  such  a  rare 
quality  that  they  are  almost  indestructible ;  they 


The  First  invasion  of  Gaul  by  the  Huns. 

dried  the  marshes,  and  accomplished  wonderful 
improvements  in  the  way  of  hot  baths  and 
plumbing! 

The  Gauls  meanwhile,  preoccupied  more  with 
ideas  than  with  mechanisms,  added  many  refine- 
ments to  life :  they  invented  soap  and  mattresses, 
and  beds,  and  ornamental  carpets,  and  coats  of 
mail,  and  the  plating  and  enameling  of  silver. 
They  were  not  only  heroic,  but  they  were  some- 
what dandified:  they  were  proud  of  their  figures. 
In  fact  a  sort  of  standard  belt  existed  which  was 
tried  publicly  on  the  Gallic  youths.  Those  un- 


12      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

able  to  clasp  it  over  their  too  ample  forms  were 
severely  punished! 

The  Gauls  were  too  great  a  people  to  be  ab- 
sorbed by  an  enemy.  In  52  B.  C.,  after  the 
conquest  of  Gaul  by  Caesar,  and  in  spite  of  this 
subjection,  they  did  not  submit  to  the  Romans. 
They  collaborated  rather  with  them,  completing 
them  in  certain  ways,  learning  from  them  in 
others,  and  furthering  thus  the  progress  of  hu- 
manity. 

When,  about  150  years  after  Christ,  the 
apostles  of  the  new  doctrine  began  to  preach 
Christianity  in  Gaul,  the  Romans  persecuted 
them  in  a  horrible  manner.  Many  of  these  early 
martyrs:  Saint  Denis,  Sainte  Blandine,  etc.,  are 
commemorated  in  the  history  of  France. 

These  courageous  souls  were  tortured  and  put 
to  death  by  the  Romans;  yet,  because  of  the 
idealism  of  the  Gauls,  the  cause  rapidly  tri- 
umphed, and  paganism  was  replaced  by  Chris- 
tianity throughout  Gaul. 

Meanwhile  the  Roman  Empire,  having  passed 
the  moment  of  its  greatest  strength  was  itself 
to  be  invaded,  as  its  soldiers  had  invaded  other 
countries. 

Hordes  of  barbarians,  pouring  down  from  the 
north  and  the  east,  spread  themselves  out  in  the 
river  valleys.  Three  different  peoples  came  to 
settle  themselves  in  Gaul:  the  Visigoths,  who 
took  up  their  abode  in  the  south  between  the 
Loire  and  the  Pyrenees,  the  Burgundians,  who 


EARLY  DAYS  13 


remained  in  the  east,  between  the  Rhone  and  the 
Alps,  and  the  Franks,  who  stopped  in  the  north, 
between  the  Somme  and  the  Rhine.  The  Gallo- 
Romans  occupied  the  center  of  the  country. 

As  often  happens,  a  fresh  invasion  of  bar- 
barians was  now  to  effect  greater  unity  among 
these  somewhat  divided  elements. 

THE   FIRST   BATTLE  OF  THE   MARNE 

In  451,  Attila,  the  Chief  of  the  Huns,  who 
called  himself  proudly  "the  Curse  of  God,"  had 
set  out  from  the  Far  East  with  vast  armies, 
whose  determination,  like  that  of  Von  Kluck, 
almost  fifteen  hundred  years  later,  was  at  all 
costs  to  reach  Paris. 

In  451  Paris  was  only  a  small  town,  called 
Lutece  (Lutetia).  The  inhabitants  were  alarmed 
at  the  approach  of  these  ferocious  barbarians 
led  by  Attila.  They  wished  to  abandon  the  city. 
A  young  shepherdess,  Genevieve,  acting  with  an 
exalted  sort  of  inspiration,  exhorted  them  to  re- 
main, and  to  have  faith  in  the  victory  of  Gaul 
against  the  Huns. 

In  the  great  battle  which  took  place  in  the 
region  of  the  Marne,  on  the  Catalaunic  plains, 
between  Troyes  and  Chalons,  Attila  was  van- 
quished. He  was  driven  from  the  country. 

To-day  Genevieve  is  beloved  as  the  Patron 
Saint  of  Paris.  Her  name  will  forever  be  linked 


14      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

with  those  of  the  Poilus,  who,  in  1914,  a  second 
time  saved  Paris. 


Genevieve  in  451,   during  the  first   Battle  of  the  Marne, 
exhorts   the   Parisians. 

The  history  of  France,  it  may  be  said,  begins 
with  the  victory  over  Attila,  this  first  Battle  of 
the  Marne,  fought  by  the  Franks  and  the  Gallo- 
Romans  against  the  Huns  in  451. 


II.  —  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


THE  MEROVINGIANS 

The  first  king  of  the  Franks,  chosen  at  this 
time,  was  Merovee.  He  gave  his  name  to  the 
Merovingian  dynas- 
ty, which  from  448 
to  751  ruled  in  this 
new  country. 

The  most  impor- 
tant of  the  descend- 
ants of  Merovee  was 
his  grandson,  Clovis 
I  (481-511).  He  is 
to  be  remembered  for 
two  reasons  of  the 
greatest  importance 
in  French  history:  A 
pagan  himself,  Clovis 
married  a  Christian 
woman,  Clothilde, 
and  through  her  in- 
fluence he  adopted 
the  Christian  Faith. 
Moreover  he  estab- 
lished the  political  Baptism  of  Clovis,  the  first  Christian 

unity  of  Gaul.      He 

conquered  the  Gallo-Romans    (486),  the  Visi- 

15 


16     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

goths  (500),  the  Burgundians  (507).  He  be- 
came master  of  all  Gaul. 

In  496  he  was  baptized  in  Rheims,  where  since 
then,  almost  without  exception,  the  Kings — as 
long  as  there  were  Kings  in  France — were 
anointed. 

This  first  effort  toward  national  unity,  so  suc- 
cessfully undertaken  by  Clovis,  was  not  to  be 
maintained.  When  Clovis  died,  the  kingdom 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Franks,  but  it  was 
broken  up  into  several  smaller  realms,  divided 
among  the  descendants  of  the  first  Merovingian. 
This  condition  of  subdivision  in  the  kingdom 
was  to  last  for  over  a  thousand  years,  until  finally, 
in  1643,  the  King,  Louis  XIV,  was  to  become  the 
absolute  monarch  of  a  united  kingdom. 

Gradually,  the  grandsons  and  great-grandsons 
of  Clovis,  who  were  constantly  fighting  among 
each  other,  so  far  weakened  their  power  that, 
several  hundred  years  later,  when  the  Arabs  in- 
vaded Gaul,  they  were  obliged  to  call  upon  the 
people  for  assistance.  A  brilliant  warrior  pre- 
sented himself:  Charles,  surnamed  the  Hammer 
(le  Martel).  Under  his  inspiring  leadership  (in 
732)  the  Arabs  were  vanquished  at  Poitiers. 

THE   CAROLINGIANS 

After  this  victory,  the  new  Chief  became  the 
founder  of  a  dynasty,  called  the  Carolingians  or 
descendants  of  Charles,  or  Carolus.  For  236 


years — from  751   to  987 — this  dynasty  was  to 
give  to  France  her  Kings. 

The  greatest  of  the  Carolingians,  and  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  Kings  in  French  history,  was 
Charlemagne  (Carolus  Magnus,  or  Charles  the 
Great).  He  became  King  in  768.  The  longest 


Charlemagne,   the  great   Emperor   of  the   Occident. 

war  which  he  undertook  was  waged  against  the 
Saxons,  who  were  still  pagans.  This  war  lasted 
for  33  years  and  was  finally  won  by  Charle- 
magne. His  other  victories  made  him  master 
of  Gaul,  of  Germania,  of  Italy  and  of  part  of 
Spain. 

On   Christmas   Day,    800,   Charlemagne   was 
crowned  in  Rome  as  Emperor  of  the  Occident. 


1 8      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

His  work  was  one  not  only  of  conquest  but  of 
organization :  he  made  wise  laws  for  the  admin- 
istration of  the  various  provinces  under  his  do- 
minion, he  appointed  inspectors  to  enquire  into 
and  study  the  needs  of  his  people.  He  sent  for 
learned  men  from  all  parts  of  the  world  and 
founded  a  great  number  of  schools. 

This  period  of  early  medieval  history  is  full 
of  romance.  The  story  of  Roland,  for  example, 
has  been  sung  in  all  languages.  Returning  from 
a  campaign  in  Spain,  Roland  was  harassed  by  the 
enemy  in  the  Pyrenees  mountains,  on  the  pass  of 
Roncevaux.  With  his  ivory  horn  he  sounded  the 
cry  of  distress  which  Charlemagne  heard  and 
answered,  alas,  too  late.  Before  perishing  under 
the  rocks  which  the  enemy  hurled  upon  him, 
Roland  lifted  his  sword,  Durandal,  and  smote 
the  mountain  side  with  such  force  that  a  cleft 
was  made,  says  the  legend.  This  rift  is  still 
called:  "Roland's  Breach"  (la  breche  de  Ro- 
land) . 

At  the  death  of  Charlemagne,  history  was  to 
repeat  itself:  the  empire  was  once  again  divided 
by  his  quarreling  descendants.  The  Carolingians, 
whose  strength  was  wasted  by  their  personal  jeal- 
ousies, were  not  powerful  enough  to  stem  a  fresh 
invasion  from  the  north. 


THE    NORMANS 


The  Norsmen,  or  Normans,  were  Danish  and 
Norwegian  pirates,  who  every  year  took  to  the 
high  seas  in  the  spring  time,  landing  on  the  coasts, 
sailing  up  the  rivers  of  their  neighbors'  coun- 
tries, which  they  pillaged  and  robbed  at  will. 


The    Normans   pillaging   a    church    of    Gaul. 

In  885,  twenty  thousand  Normans,  led  by 
their  chiefs,  the  famous  "Vikings,"  arrived  with 
a  fleet  of  700  ships,  determined  to  conquer  the 
fertile  lands  of  France. 

They  laid  siege  to  Paris,  which,  in  those  days, 
was  a  small  town,  covering  only  a  little  more 
ground  than  the  island  on  which  Notre-Dame 
stands  to-day. 

In  spite  of  their  barbaric  customs,  the  Nor- 
mans had  many  admirable  qualities  which  still 


20      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


Gauls          Gauls       gih       nth       I2th 
(Country)      (City)     cent.     cent.     cent. 


Philippe       I3th         Jeanne 
the   Bold     cent,   de  Bourbon 


characterize  the  inhabitants  of  Normandy:  a 
certain  smartness  and  thrift,  an  ability  to  defend 
their  own  rights,  an  almost  untiring  capacity  for 
work. 

Appreciating  their  strength  and  their  deter- 
mination to  occupy  this  rich  territory,  which  is 
the  most  beautiful  farming  country  in  France, 
the  King  decided,  in  the  year  911,  to  form  an 
alliance  with  them.  He  gave  his  daughter  in 
marriage  to  the  Norman  chief,  Rollon,  and  a 
dowry  which  comprised  all  of  the  province  of 
Normandy.  Rollon  became  a  Christian  and  a 
subject  of  the  King. 


THE   CAPETIANS 

During  the  struggle  with  the  Normans  a  new 
leader  had  distinguished  himself:  Hugues  Capet. 
When  the  last  of  the  increasingly  incompetent 
Carolingians  had  been  deposed,  Hugues  Capet, 
who  had  won  the  confidence  of  the  nobles  and  the 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


21 


people,  was  chosen  to  found  a  new  dynasty:  the 
Capetians.  They  remained  in  power  over  three 
hundred  years. 

At  the  time  when  the  Capetians  began  to  reign 
society  was  organized  according  to  certain  fixed 


The  feudal  castle  of  Pierrefonds  as  it  stands,  restored,  to-day. 

regulations  which  were  known  as  the  "feudal  sys- 
tem." 

THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

Little  by  little  the  rich  landed  proprietors,  or 
Lords,  had  become  as  powerful  in  their  own  do- 
mains as  the  King  was  in  his.  The  Dukes  of  Nor- 
mandy, of  Burgundy,  the  Counts  of  Champagne, 
of  Poitou,  etc.,  had  their  own  armed  forces;  they 
levied  their  own  taxes,  they  dispensed  justice, 


22      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

they  cast  the  guilty  into  prison,  or  condemned 
them  to  death  if  they  deemed  fit,  with  an  author- 
ity which  no  one  could  contest. 

However,  as  it  was  through  favor  with  the 
King  that  they  had  acquired  their  vast  properties, 
they  were  obliged  to  swear  allegiance  to  His 
Majesty.  The  King  was  considered  as  sovereign 
of  all  the  Lords,  and  the  Lords  were  his  vassals. 
They  in  turn,  by  the  concession  of  less  important 
lands,  made  vassals  of  certain  lords  inferior  to 
themselves.  This  was  the  Feudal  System  of  the 
middle  ages,  which  the  Capetians  found  in  vogue 
when  they  ascended  the  throne. 

The  relatively  restricted  class  of  exceedingly 
rich  landed  proprietors  formed  the  nobility.  Cer- 
tain members  of  the  clergy  were  also  possessed 
of  fiefs  or  domains,  which  gave  them  the  right 
to  a  title.  Less  privileged  than  the  nobles  was 
the  class  known  as  the  bourgeois,  or  the  mer- 
chant class.  They  inhabited  the  cities.  Beneath 
them  were  the  vilains,  or  rotur'iers,  who  lived  in 
the  country,  but  who  occupied  themselves  about 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  region.  Lowest 
of  all  were  the  serfs,  who  were  practically  slaves. 
They  were  not  allowed  to  leave  the  estate  of  a 
lord  without  his  permission. 

Many  of  the  feudal  castles  have  been  ruined 
but  a  few  still  remain,  as  for  example  that  at 
Pierrefonds.  This  medieval  aristocratic  dwell- 
ing or  chateau  was  built  on  a  hill  top  or  height 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  23 

which  dominated  the  surrounding  country  and 
served  as  a  point  of  observation  and  defense  dur- 
ing the  frequent  attacks  made  by  hostile  neigh- 
bors. The  principal  entrance  was  flanked  by 
towers.  There  was  an  outer  wall,  surrounding 
ditches  full  of  water  spanned  by  a  draw-bridge; 
a  portcullis  or  iron  door,  which  could  be  closed 
in  such  a  way  as  to  cut  off  all  communication  with 
the  outside  world. 

The  walls  were  crowned  with  parapets  and 
towers,  where  the  sentinels  stood  on  guard.  The 
parapets  were  surmounted  with  battlements  which 
were  pierced  in  such  a  way  as  to  permit  the 
dropping  of  hot  oil  and  stones  and  burning  tar 
upon  the  enemies  who  attempted  to  approach  the 
castle. 

In  spite  of  the  constant  state  of  war  in  which 
the  feudal  lords  spent  their  days,  they  surrounded 
themselves  with  objects  of  priceless  beauty:  tapes- 
tries, stained  glass,  carved  wood,  work  of  the 
finest  sort  wrought  in  iron,  chiseled  in  silver  and 
in  gold. 

The  interior  of  these  medieval  chateaux  pre- 
sented incomparable  harmony.  Nothing  in  those 
days  had  been  vulgarized  by  the  machine;  the 
smallest  objects  which  served  for  the  humblest 
daily  needs  were  made  by  hand  from  the  designs 
of  artists. 

Nor  was  the  intellectual  progress  of  the  world 
a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  feudal  lords.  In 


24      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

the  splendid  halls  of  their  domains,  they  assem- 
bled the  great  poets  of  the  day  to  sing  to  them ; 
they  invited  the  travelers  who  had  been  on  pil- 
grimages to  relate  the  stories  of  distant  lands. 

Warriors  and  patrons  of  the  arts,  these  great 
lords,  however,  thought  little  of  the  poor  who 


The    troubadors   or   poets   of   the    middle   ages. 

were  dependent  upon  them  for  a  living.  The 
land,  which  served  continually  as  a  battlefield, 
was  little  by  little  impoverished.  Houses  were 
burned,  villages  destroyed.  At  last,  in  the  year 
1000,  a  terrible  famine  devastated  France. 

The  Church,  preoccupied  at  the  vast  propor- 
tions which  the  general  misery  had  assumed, 
decreed  what  was  known  as  the  "Truce  of  God." 
Whatever  their  quarrels,  the  people  were  obliged 
to  interrupt  them  between  Wednesday  nights  and 
Monday  mornings,  nor  were  they  permitted  to 
fight  on  feast  days  and  holidays! 


THE  CRUSADES 

During  the  reign  of  the  Capetians,  which 
lasted  341  years — from  987  to  1328 — many 
things  occurred  of  importance  to  France  from 
every  point  of  view.  The  first  of  the  Capetians, 
Hugues  Capet,  established  the  royal  residence 
in  Paris. 

In  1066,  the  Normans  under  William,  sur- 
named  the  Conqueror,  crossed  the  Channel,  and, 
after  the  victorious  Battle  of  Hastings,  became 
the  masters  of  England. 

The  same  year  saw  the  beginning  of  a  great 
religious  movement. 

In  1076,  the  Turks  invaded  Asia  Minor  and 
took  Jerusalem.  This  was  the  moment  to  rouse 
a  wide-spread  movement  of  indignation.  The 
emotions  which  every  man  felt  at  the  outrages 
committed  against  the  Christians  and  the  tomb 
of  Christ,  were  united  in  a  feeling  of  common 
exultation  by  Peter  the  Hermit.  He  was  a 
Frenchman  of  humble  origin.  He  had  been  first 
a  soldier,  then  a  husband  and  a  father,  before 
finally  becoming  a  monk  who  consecrated  his  life 
to  solitary  meditation. 

Born  in  Amiens  in  1050,  Peter  the  Hermit  had 
first  made  the  journey  to  Jerusalem  merely  to 
pray  at  the  tomb  of  the  Saviour.  The  suffering 
which  he  witnessed  among  the  Christians  who 
were  being  martyrized  by  the  Turks,  stirred  him 


26      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


to  the  depths  of  his  contemplative  soul.  He  be- 
came thenceforth  a  man  of  action.  He  vowed 
that  he  would  let  the  world  know  of  the  horrors 
which  he  had  witnessed.  He  was  convinced  that, 
once  enlightened,  the  men  of  all  nations  would  set 
out  to  deliver  their  afflicted  brothers. 

Peter  the  Hermit  was  a  small  man,  insignificant 
in  appearance,  but  his  spirit  was  great  and  he 


In    1099  the   Crusaders   stormed   and  captured  Jerusalem. 

had  an  unusual  gift  of  eloquence.  Thrilled  with 
the  beauty  of  his  mission,  he  visited  the  towns  of 
Italy  and  of  France,  preaching  the  cause  wher- 
ever he  went. 

^  Finally,  in  1095,  a  great  reunion  was  held  at 
Clermont-Ferrand  in  Auvergne.  Peter  the  Her- 
mit spoke  to  the  assembled  masses;  he  related  the 
atrocities  he  had  seen,  and  he  told  of  his  own 
sufferings  in  Jerusalem.  He  spoke  with  that 
touch  of  human  interest  which  reaches  the  hearts 
of  all. 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


27 


When  he  had  finished,  the  Pope,  Urbain  II, 
made  a  resounding  appeal: 

"Think  of  Jerusalem,"  he  said,  "the  Royal 
City,  the  Redeemer  of  Mankind.  Jerusalem 
which  was  made  glorious  by  the  presence  of  Jesus, 
consecrated  by  his  Passion,  and  by  his  Death,  re- 


Crusaders  of  the  XI  and  XII  centuries. 

nowned  forever  because  of  his  Sepulcher. 
Jerusalem  now  implores  you  to  deliver  her!" 

Exhorting  the  French  people,  the  Pope  con- 
tinued: 

"Remember  the  virtue  of  your  ancestors,  the 
greatness  of  Charlemagne,  of  your  other  Kings. 
Set  out  now  upon  the  way !" 

One  resounding  cry  greeted  this  appeal.  From 
the  throats  of  all  rose  the  answer:  "God  wills 
it!  God  wills  it!" 


28      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

First  the  lower  classes,  then  the  middle  classes, 
then  the  most  powerful  princes  and  priests,  and 
finally  women  both  of  the  nobility  and  of  the 
people  determined  to  undertake  the  pilgrimage 
to  Jerusalem. 

It  was  decided  that  the  first  crusaders  were  to 
set  out  for  the  Holy  Land  eight  months  later, 


Crusaders  of  the  XIII  century. 

toward  the  end  of  August,  1096.  But  such  was 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  that  nothing  could 
keep  them  back.  By  the  beginning  of  March 
three  expeditions  were  already  under  way:  the 
first  was  composed  of  about  100,000  people,  the 
other  two  of  about  20,000  each.  Men,  women 
and  children,  whole  families  abandoned  their 
homes,  their  villages,  their  interests  of  every  sort, 
confident  that  their  Faith  would  carry  them 
triumphant  through  every  difficulty.  Every 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


29 


Crusader  wore  on  his  forehead,  or  on  his  breast, 
a  red  cross  which  gave  him  his  name  of  crusader, 
or  crossader,  and  which  was  the  emblem  of  his 
inspiration. 

The  second  crusade  was  placed  under  the  guid- 
ance of  a  great  French  man:  Godfroy  de  Bouil- 
lon. His  contemporaries  said  of  him:  "His  no- 


The   Sepulcher  where  Christ  is  buried  in  Jerusalem. 

bility  was  shown  both  in  his  manner  of  dealing 
with  the  affairs  of  this  world  and  with  those  of 
Heaven!  For  ardor  in  war  he  resembled  his 
father,  who  was  a  gallant  soldier,  for  serving 
God  he  had  as  example  his  mother.  He  was  com- 
passionate for  those  who  suffered,  generous  and 
forgiving  toward  sinners,  humble,  gentle,  moder- 
ate and  chaste."  Godfroy  de  Bouillon  is  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  and  the  most  sympathetic 
characters  of  the  Crusades. 


30     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

On  July  15,  1099,  after  heartrending  adven- 
tures and  a  siege  which  lasted  forty  days,  Jerusa- 
lem was  taken  by  the  Crusaders. 

(Jerusalem  was  taken  by  the  British  troops  on 
December  n,  1917,  after  6  months  of  fighting 
against  the  Turks.) 

Godfrey  de  Bouillon  was  elected  King  of 
Jerusalem.  He  accepted  the  responsibilities  of 
such  a  charge,  but  he  refused  the  title.  He  said: 

"I  could  never  wear  a  crown  of  gold  in  the 
very  place  where  our  Saviour  wore  a  crown  of 
thorns." 

The  suffering  of  the  crusaders,  before  this  final 
victory  was  achieved,  included  every  form  of 
human  misery.  The  first  expeditions  had  set  out 
for  the  long  journey  across  Europe  without  or- 
ganization or  equipment,  and  without  provisions. 
The  routes  followed  lay  across  Germany,  Hun- 
gary and  Bulgaria,  or  through  Italy  and  over  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  These  vast  hordes  of  peo- 
ple, moving  like  an  army  through  unknown  lands, 
wrought  trouble  wherever  they  passed:  hungry, 
they  seized  what  food  they  could  lay  hands  upon, 
they  pillaged  farms  and  houses.  Many  of  them 
were  massacred  by  outraged  proprietors,  many 
of  them  fell  ill  of  fever  and  pest.  Finally  they 
were  most  unwelcome  to  the  reigning  King  of 
Jerusalem,  who  opposed  them  in  every  possible 
manner. 

Jerusalem  continued  to  be  disputed  for  cen- 
turies by  the  East  and  the  West.  In  1 147  a  sec- 


ond  Crusade  was  inspired  by  Bernard,  later 
canonized  as  Saint  Bernard. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  the 
Kings  of  France  and  of  England,  Philippe  Au- 
guste  and  Richard  the  Lion  Hearted,  set  out  upon 
the  Third  Crusade. 

The  most  important  event  which  transpired 
during  the  Fourth  Crusade  (1202)  was  the  tak- 
ing of  Constantinople  by  the  French,  who  re- 
mained its  master  for  over  fifty  years,  giving  five 
rulers  to  the  Empire  of  the  Orient. 

Louis  IX  was  the  hero  of  the  Seventh  Crusade 
in  1248,  and,  in  1270,  of  the  Eighth  and  last 
Crusade. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  the  multitudes  left  upon  the 
way  during  the  first  crusades,  the  good  accom- 
plished contributed  with  lasting  effect  to  the  pro- 
gress of  civilization.  In  the  first  place,  this  gath- 
ering together  of  masses  which  included  the  rich, 
the  poor,  scholars,  ignorant  peasants,  feudal 
lords  and  their  humblest  servants,  was  something 
entirely  new.  People  of  all  classes  were  for  the 
first  time  united  in  social  fraternity  by  their  be- 
lief in  a  common  ideal;  the  direct  influence  of  the 
suffering  endured  during  the  crusades  was  demo- 
cratic. 

The  feudal  lord,  his  vassals,  his  warring  neigh- 
bors, instead  of  remaining  at  home  to  fight 
against  each  other,  were  now  traveling  on  an 
errand  which  drew  them  together  in  the  closest 
of  spiritual  bonds.  The  physical  miseries  of 


32      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

these  exalted  pilgrims  were  agonizing  indeed,  but 
the  world,  through  just  such  sacrifices,  became 
thereafter  a  better  place  to  live  in. 


THE  ORDERS  OF  CHIVALRY 

Meanwhile,  in  France,  the  Church,  endeavor- 
ing to   still   further   modify  the   cruel   customs 


A   Lord  of  the  middle  ages  conferring  upon  a  page  the   order 
of  knighthood. 

which  years  of  constant  strife  had  established, 
instituted  a  religious  order,  known  as  the  order 
of  Chivalry.  The  members  of  this  order,  known 
as  the  Knights  of  Chivalry,  were  pledged  to  pro- 
tect the  Church  and  to  uphold  the  weak  against 
the  strong. 

The  training  of  a  gentleman's  son,  until  those 
days,  had  been  one  of  physical  endurance,  which 
prepared  him  to  defend  his  honor  and  his  inter- 
ests. At  seven  a  boy  entered  the  service  of  some 
nobleman,  as  his  page.  At  fifteen,  he  became 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  33 

equerry.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  was  to 
become  a  Knight.  The  ceremony  of  his  initia- 
tion was  at  the  same  time  religious  and  military. 
After  a  night  passed  in  prayer,  the  young  French 
gentleman  appeared  before  the  lord  in  whose 
service  he  had  spent  his  youth  as  a  page.  The 
noble  lord  embraced  him,  touched  him  with  his 
sword,  and  pronounced  him  a  Knight. 

THE  COMMONS 

Another  movement  of  extreme  importance  to 
be  noted  during  the  Capetian  dynasty  was  that 
made  by  the  people  as  early  as  1130  to  assert 
their  individual  rights.  In  a  great  number  of 
towns  the  popular  indignation  had  been  growing 
against  the  oppression  of  the  nobles.  Finally 
these  diverse  outbursts  were  organized  in  the 
form  of  societies  which  were  called  "communes," 
or  commons :  all  the  members  swore  that  in  com- 
mon they  would  resist  the  Lords. 

Hundreds  of  years  later  this  movement  of  the 
oppressed  against  the  oppressors  was  to  result 
in  the  great  French  Revolution  and  in  the  be- 
heading of  the  King. 

In  the  early  days,  on  the  contrary,  the  extreme 
radical  tendency  was  favored  by  the  sovereign: 
he  saw  in  it  a  chance  to  weaken  the  power  of  the 
noblemen  who  were  always  an  annoyance  to  him, 
sometimes  even  a  menace  to  the  throne. 

The  royal  domain  in  the  I2th  century  was  re- 


34      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


Vinesman.    Times  of  Charles  V.    i4th  cent.     Lady  and        About      isth 
Gardener.   Peasant.         Courtiers.  her  attendants.     1480.     cent. 


stricted  to  a  comparatively  small  part  of  France : 
the  He  de  France,  the  Orleanais  and  Picardie. 
Normandy,  after  the  days  of  the  Battle  of  Has- 
tings, when  the  sons  of  William  the  Conqueror 
had  become  the  Kings  of  England,  remained  a 
Normano-English  duchy,  over  which  however  the 
King  of  France  retained  the  rights  of  suzerainty. 

Thus,  side  by  side,  four  distinct  branches  of 
human  progress  were  contributing  to  the  evolu- 
tion of  France :  political  action  which  tended  ever 
toward  greater  national  unity;  moral  action  which 
emphasized  the  spiritual  importance  of  chivalry; 
intellectual  action  which  increased  the  possibili- 
ties of  learning;  social  action  which  encouraged 
the  expression  of  individual  rights.  Unity,  chiv- 
alry, education  and  liberty,  these  forms  of  activ- 
ity, which  date  from  the  middle  ages  when  wars 
were  constant,  are  characteristic  of  the  civiliza- 
tion of  France. 

An  alliance  contracted  at  about  this  time,  to- 
ward the  end  of  the  I2th  century,  was  to  be 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


35 


the  cause  of  many  years  of  war.  Louis  VII,  one 
of  the  great-great-grandsons  of  Hugues  Capet, 
repudiated  his  wife.  Exceedingly  rich,  her 
dowry  comprised  the  provinces  of  Aquitaine, 
Perigord,  Limousin,  Poitou  and  Angoumois. 


Notre-Dame  of  Paris,  begun  in    1163,   completed  at  about   1230. 

Thus,  when  she  married  a  second  time  Henry 
Plantagenet,  the  future  King  of  England,  these 
vast  domains  passed  into  the  royal  keeping  of 
the  English  crown.  They  were  to  become  again 
the  property  of  the  French  only  after  years  and 
years,  and  many,  many  wars. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  the  Capetian  Kings, 
Philippe  Auguste,  came  to  the  throne  in  1180. 
His  exploits  and  enterprises  were  varied.  Though 


36      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

he  succeeded  in  winning  back  the  province  of 
Normandy  and  of  Poitou  for  the  crown  of 
France,  his  chief  preoccupation  was  not  war,  but 
peace:  he  instigated  a  form  of  justice  known  as 
"the  King's  Quarantine":  no  private  war  could 
be  undertaken  by  the  feudal  lords  until  forty  days 
had  passed  after  the  incident  which  had  given  rise 
to  the  dispute.  In  the  interval  the  King  en- 
deavored to  discover  and  punish  the  culprit  re- 
sponsible for  the  aggression.  Philippe  Auguste 
organized  the  great  market  place  of  the  Halles, 
in  Paris;  he  completed  the  Cathedral  of  Notre- 
Dame,  he  built  the  royal  residence  of  the  Louvre, 
he  ordered  the  streets  of  Paris  to  be  paved,  he 
united  the  various  colleges  of  Paris  into  a  Uni- 
versity, which  was  attended  by  young  men  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  attracted  by  the  oppor- 
tunities of  learning  which  it  afforded.  With  Rich- 
ard the  Lion  Hearted,  King  of  England,  Philippe 
Auguste  also  went  on  a  crusade  to  Jerusalem. 

LOUIS  IX,  THE  SAINT 

The  greatest  of  all  the  Capetian  Kings  how- 
ever was  Louis  IX.  He  embodied  the  spirit  of 
the  times  and  was  its  finest  expression.  His  life 
was  led  with  the  constant  thought  for  the  wel- 
fare and  happiness  of  his  people,  with  respect 
and  tenderness  for  his  mother,  with  a  devout 
belief  in  God.  He  has  been  canonized  as  one 
of  the  Saints  of  the  Catholic  Church. 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


37 


Louis  IX  was  born  in  1226.  He  came  to  the 
throne  when  he  was  eleven  years  old,  at  the  death 
of  his  father,  who  had  reconquered  from  the 
English  several  more  of  the  French  provinces. 

The  government  of  the  kingdom  was  entrusted 
momentarily  to  the  Queen  Mother,  Blanche  of 
Castille.  Between  this  mother  and  this  son  there 


Bust    of   the    King 
Saint    Louis. 


The    mother    of    Saint    Louis, 
Blanche   of   Castille. 


existed  a  beautiful  friendship.  During  his  boy- 
hood and  youth,  at  this  time  when  France  was 
enduring  days  of  cruel  warfare,  the  constant  com- 
panionship of  such  a*  remarkable  woman  made 
upon  the  character  of  Louis  IX  a  lasting  mark. 
Though  his  moral  sense  was  as  delicate,  his  hu- 
man pity  as  tender  as  those  of  the  mother  who 
had  brought  him  up,  he  was  not  lacking  in  energy. 
During  his  minority,  the  English,  who  con- 
sidered this  occasion  favorable,  .had  attacked  the 
throne  of  France.  In  1242,  Louis  IX  took  up 


38      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

arms  against  these  enemies  and  defeated  Henry 
III  of  England.  The  same  year  he  went  on  a 
crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  where  he  was  made  a 
prisoner  by  the  Turks. 

Louis  IX  seems  to  have  sought  to  make  him- 
self rather  loved  than  feared  and  no  one,  it  is 
said,  ever  saw  him  show  anger. 


Saint   Louis    dispensing   justice   at    Vincennes,   near    Paris. 

During  his  absence  on  this  first  pilgrimage, 
the  shepherds  and  peasants  revolted:  bands  of 
them  went  about  pillaging  in  all  parts  of  France. 
Blanche  of  Castille  was  able  to  quiet  this  violent 
outburst  of  popular  discontent.  When  Louis  IX 
returned,  he  endeavored  to  bring  to  an  end  the 
constant  wars  which  so  depleted  the  country  and 
dissatisfied  the  people.  Thus  he  drew  the  nobles 
about  him  and  confided  to  them  great  resoon- 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


39 


sibilities  at  his  own  court.  He  founded  a  number 
of  hospitals  where  the  sick  and  old  could  be  cared 
for.  Among  them  the  most  important  was  the 
Hopital  des  Quinze-Vingts  for  the  blind,  in  Paris, 
in  which  Louis  IX  gave  hospitality  to  those  who 
in  the  middle  ages  had  lost  their  eyesight.  To- 


The     Sainte    Chapelle    erected    by 
Louis     IX     in     Paris. 


The    seal    of    Saint    Louis. 


day  the  very  same  building  shelters  those  who  in 
the  present  war  have  entered  into  eternal  dark- 


ness. 


Finally,  in  1270,  the  King  set  out  again  for  the 
Holy  Land,  but  he  fell  ill  of  the  pest  in  Tunis, 
where  he  died  with  a  fortitude  and  resignation 
which  inspired  admiration  even  from  his  enemies. 

The  early  years  of  the  I4th  century  saw  re- 
newed fighting  in  the  same  region  near  the  Lys 


40      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

and  the  Yser  where  the  Allies  have  been  at  war 
since  1914. 

The  quarrel  was  over  the  province  of  Guyenne, 
which  had  been  annexed  to  the  throne.  The 
Flemish  joined  with  the  English  against  the  Kings 
of  France  in  a  war  which  lasted  for  six  years. 

THE  STATES  GENERAL 

During  the  reign  of  the  grandson  of  Louis 
IX,  Philippe  IV,  surnamed  le  Bel  or  the  Beauti- 
ful, another  important  modification  was  brought 
about  in  governmental  administration,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  religious  independence. 

All  Christian  countries,  in  those  days  before 
the  Reformation,  or  Protestantism,  were  divided 
into  two  religious  governments :  those  of  the  East, 
who  were  known  as  the  Orthodox,  and  whose 
spiritual  director  was  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem; 
those  of  the  West,  who  were  Catholics,  and 
whose  chief  was  the  Pope  in  Rome.  France, 
Italy  and  England  belonged  to  the  latter  coun- 
tries; Russia,  Serbia,  Greece,  etc.,  belonged  to  the 
former. 

The  clergy  in  France  had  not  been  obliged 
to  pay  taxes  until  the  days  of  Philippe  IV,  who 
decreed  that  priests  and  curates  were  to  be 
treated  in  this  respect  like  the  laymen  of  his  king- 
dom. 

The  Pope,  Boniface  VIII,  violently  disapprov- 
ing this  new  measure,  ordered  the  French  King 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  41 

to  be  excommunicated.  The  moment  was  critical, 
and  it  was  to  mark,  once  again,  the  spirit  of  in- 
dependence innate  to  the  French. 

Hitherto,  the  sovereign  had  been  alone  to 
make  all  decisions  concerning  the  administration 
of  his  country.  Philippe  IV  now  declared  that 
the  Pope  had  no  right  to  interfere  in  this  admin- 
istration. Very  shrewdly,  however,  he  realized 
that  he  could  not  stand  alone  against  the  Pope, 
that  he  must  be  sustained  by  his  people.  So  he 
did  what  no  King  had  ever  done  before  him  in 
France.  He  constituted  a  regular  assembly  com- 
posed not  only  of  the  nobles,  and  of  the  clergy, 
but  also  of  the  bourgeois,  or  commercial  class. 
He  called  together  members  of  these  three  groups 
in  a  congress  thereafter  known  as  the  States  Gen- 
eral (Etats  Generaux).  The  newly  appointed 
body  of  representative  men  upheld  their  King 
on  this  occasion. 

Strangely  enough  it  was  this  same  States  Gen- 
eral which,  during  the  Revolution  of  1789-93, 
was  to  vote  the  downfall  of  Louis  XVI. 

Philippe  le  Bel  was  the  last  of  the  Capetians 
whose  reign  left  a  mark  on  the  history  of  France. 
His  sons  died  without  leaving  a  direct  heir. 

THE    HUNDRED    YEARS*    WAR 

The  dispute  which  arose  over  this  succession 
to  the  throne  gave  rise  to  a  war  with  England 


42      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

which  lasted  from  1337  to  1453,  and  was  known 
as  the  Hundred  Years'  War. 

Two  heirs  claimed  the  right  to  reign  in  France : 
Philippe  of  Valois  and  Edward  III  of  England; 
they  were  cousins  of  each  other  and  of  the  last 
King  of  France. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  succession  should  pass 
into  the  hands  of  Valois.  This  decision  the  King 
of  England  would  not  accept.  He  invaded  France 
with  an  admirable  body  of  soldiers  and  opened 
hostilities  which  were  to  last  for  a  century. 

The  situation  in  those  days  was  quite  the  oppo- 
site to  that  in  which  France  and  England  found 
themselves  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  war: 
as  early  as  the  i3th  century  and  even  before,  the 
Kings  of  England  had  formed  regiments  of  in- 
fantry, in  which  service  was  compulsory  and  the 
training  severe.  The  French,  on  the  contrary, 
had  reserved  the  profession  of  arms  for  the  no- 
bility; the  soldiers  formed  part  of  the  household 
of  the  feudal  lords.  Thus,  in  1346,  Edward  III 
advanced  through  Normandy,  ravaging  the  coun- 
try as  he  passed,  and  arrived  almost  at  the  gates 
of  Paris.  Driven  back  across  the  Somme,  near 
Abbeville,  the  English  army  won  a  great  victory 
at  Crecy.  The  Battle  of  Crecy  was  a  triumph  of 
the  infantry,  and  for  the  first  time  several  pieces 
of  cannon  were  also  used. 

Calais  was  the  next  town  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  English,  who  kept  it  for  over  a  hundred 
years.  The  siege  of  Calais  lasted  for  more  than 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


43 


Gentleman  Lady      About     Gentleman     Bourgeois     Henri  III   Reign  of 
time  of  4    1510         1528  1579  time  of  Henri  IV 

Louis  XII  Charles  IX 

a  year.  The  defense  made  by  the  inhabitants 
was  so  heroic  that  Edward  III  wished  to  kill 
them  all.  Six  of  the  most  important  bourgeois, 
rich  merchants  of  the  city,  offered  themselves  as 
hostages  if  the  King  would  spare  their  fellow 
towns-people.  As  they  stood  before  the  sover- 
eign, bareheaded,  a  rope  around  their  necks,  of- 
fering the  keys  of  Calais  to  Edward  III,  who  was 
about  to  have  them  beheaded,  their  spirit  of  sacri- 
fice touched  the  Queen.  She  interceded  and 
obtained  grace  for  them.  The  Bourgeois  of 
Calais  have  remained  celebrated  in  French  his- 
tory. 

This  is  not  the  end  of  the  French  defeats. 
In  1356  the  English  obtained  another  great  vic- 
tory at  Poitiers.  The  Prince  of  Wales,  sur- 
named  the  Black  Prince,  seized  the  King  of 
France  and  took  him  a  captive  to  London,  where, 
in  1364,  he  died  in  his  prison  cell.  Not  however 
before  he  had  signed  a  treaty  in  which  he  aban- 
doned to  the  English  about  one  third  of  his  king- 


44      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

dom.  The  people  of  Paris  revolted  at  this 
shameful  treachery,  but  without  an  army  power- 
ful enough  to  organize  their  resistance,  this  op- 
position only  added  to  the  general  misery  in 
France.  The  King  of  England,  on  receipt  of  a 
large  ransom,  renounced  his  pretensions  to  the 
throne  of  France,  but  he  retained  the  provinces 
of  Aquitaine,  Poitou,  Aunis,  Saintonge  and  the 
city  of  Calais. 

A  period  of  disturbance  followed:  there  were 
uprisings  of  the  peasants  against  the  nobles, 
violent  quarrels  between  the  nobles  and  the  King. 
France  moreover  was  overrun  by  bands  of  mer- 
cenaries who,  when  peace  was  signed,  found 
themselves  unemployed.  They  pillaged  and 
burned  without  scruple  the  property  of  others. 

All  this  suffering  and  distress  were  to  be  re- 
lieved not  by  the  King,  but  by  one  of  his  captains, 
Du  Guesclin,  famous  in  French  history  as  a  great 
hero  of  the  middle  ages.  He  was  said  in  his 
childhood  to  be  the  ugliest  boy  in  Brittany;  snub- 
nosed,  awkward,  ill-tempered,  he  was  moreover 
not  particularly  intelligent,  as  his  tutors  never 
succeeded  in  teaching  him  to  read.  Nothing  in- 
dicated in  the  young  Du  Guesclin  a  hero  who  was 
to  render  incomparable  services  to  his  country. 

He  had  a  habit  of  running  away  from  home 
to  play  war  in  the  neighboring  villages  where  he 
organized  the  children  into  hostile  bands.  As 
soon  as  he  was  old  enough  to  take  up  arms  in 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  45 

reality  he  went  into  the  service  of  the  Counts  of 
France  against  the  English. 

The  King  at  this  time  had  but  one  hope:  to 
drive  the  English  out  of  France.  He  found  in 
Du  Guesclin  the  Hercules  he  needed  to  execute 
his  fondest  wishes. 

In  1378  he  obtained  such  a  decisive  victory 
over  the  English  that  their  possessions  in  France 
were  reduced  to  the  five  cities:  Calais,  Cher- 
bourg, Brest,  Bordeaux  and  Bayonne.  Du 
Guesclin  was  amazingly  courageous,  a  veritable 
hero.  He  was  full  of  ingenuity,  violent  with  his 
enemies,  merciful  to  the  poor  and  the  weak,  fear- 
less at  all  times.  He  is  one  of  the  most  sympa- 
thetic characters  of  the  middle  ages.  The  King 
made  him  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  his  armies 
and  when  in  1380  he  died  he  was  laid  beside  the 
Kings  of  France  in  the  Chapel  of  Saint-Denis, 
near  Paris. 

New  misfortunes  however  were  to  befall 
France.  The  kingdom  having  passed  into  the 
hands  of  a  poor  mad  man,  Charles  VI,  the  de- 
fense of  the  country  became  completely  disor- 
ganized. 

In  1415  the  English  landed  again  with  consid- 
erable forces  in  France,  where  they  won  a  great 
victory  at  Azincourt.  The  Queen,  a  Bavarian 
by  birth,  was  persuaded  by  the  English  to  use  her 
influence  with  the  mad  King.  She  urged  him  to 
sign  a  disastrous  treaty:  the  King  of  England 


46      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

was  proclaimed  the  successor  of  Charles  VI  to 
the  throne  of  France. 

The  wars  to  which  this  treacherous  agreement 
led  were  to  call  forth  the  genius  of  the  greatest 
of  French  heroines :  Jeanne  d'Arc. 


Du   Guesclin. 


III.  — JEANNE  D'ARC 

Indeed,  Charles  VII,  the  rightful  heir  to  the 
throne,  was  excluded,  by  the  treaty  of  Troyes, 
from  his  heritage. 

A  civil  war  ensued.  The  Burgundians  and 
the  English  led  the  hostile  opposition  to  the 
King  of  France.  Several  important  cities,  how- 
ever, remained  loyal  to  him. 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  France  once  again, 
as  in  the  days  of  the  first  Battle  of  the  Marne, 
was  to  be  saved  by  a  peasant  girl :  Jeanne  d'Arc. 

Jeanne  d'Arc  was  born  on  January  16,  1412, 
at  Domremy,  a  small  village  which  lies  between 
Neufchateau  and  Vaucouleurs,  on  the  border  line 
of  the  two  old  provinces:  Champagne  and  Lor- 
raine. She  was  the  child  of  honorable  but  poor 
farmers.  According  to  her  neighbors  "she  was 
simple,  good,  kind,  and  never  idle."  She  helped 
her  mother  to  sew  and  spin,  she  took  the  sheep 
to  pasture;  sometimes  she  was  allowed  by  her 
father  to  take  charge  of  the  herd  of  cattle  which 
the  people  of  the  village  of  Domremy  owned  in 
common. 

Jeanne,  or  Jeannette  (little  Jeanne),  as  her 
friends  called  her  at  Domremy,  used  to  go  often 
with  her  playmates  to  the  "fountain  of  the  cur- 
rants." There  they  used  to  sing  and  eat  cakes 

47 


48      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

under  an  old  beech  which  was  known  as  the  "tree 
of  the  fairies." 

Jeanne  did  not  care  for  dancing;  on  the  con- 
trary, she  was  so  devout  that  her  comrades  teased 
her  sometimes,  calling  her  too  pious.  She  went 
to  church  often  and  to  communion,  and  she  loved 
the  sound  of  the  bells  as  they  rang  the  hours  for 
service,  or  for  the  angelus. 


Jeanne    d'Arc   tending   her    sheep.      The    house,    in   the   village    of 
Domremy   where   she   was  born,    exists   to-day. 

The  little  towns  of  Domremy  and  Vaucouleurs 
had  remained  faithful  to  the  King  of  France. 
So  they  were  exposed  to  the  constant  attacks 
made  by  the  bands  of  English  and  Burgundians, 
who  went  about  devastating  the  provinces  which 
resisted  them. 

Thus  when  Jeanne  was  only  nine  years  old, 
she  saw  the  young  men  of  the  parish  of  Domremy 
return  to  their  homes  wounded  and  bleeding  after 
their  encounters  with  the  King's  enemies.  She 


JEANNE  D'ARC  49 

saw  the  neighboring  regions  pillaged  by  these 
hostile  invaders  and  she  was  distressed  and  tor- 
mented and  could  not  understand  how  God  could 
allow  such  disaster  to  befall  her  beloved  France. 

One  day,  when  she  was  about  thirteen,  she  was 
working  in  her  father's' garden  when  she  heard  a 
voice  speaking  to  her.  It  seemed  to  come  from 
the  direction  of  the  church,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
she  saw  a  great  light.  She  was  afraid  at  first, 
but,  as  she  expressed  it,  "the  voice  seemed 
worthy."  So  she  took  heart,  and  when  she  was 
called  a  second  time  she  realized  that  these  were 
the  voices  of  angels  speaking  to  her.  Indeed 
she  saw  the  angels  as  clearly,  she  said  later,  as 
she  saw  the  judges  who  were  to  condemn  her 
to  death  at  Rouen.  They  spoke  to  her  of  the 
sad  state  of  affairs  in  the  Kingdom  of  France 
and  they  exhorted  her  to  go  to  the  rescue  of  the 
Dauphin,  Charles  VII.  She  would  have  pre- 
ferred to  follow  the  angels.  Indeed  she  said 
that,  when  they  left  her,  "she  could  have  cried 
because  they  did  not  take  her  with  them." 

From  that  moment  the  visions  became  more 
and  more  frequent.  The  voices  supplicated  her 
to  save  the  kingdom  of  France.  Oppressed  by  the 
strange  mystery  of  these  repeated  appeals  which 
she  did  not  understand,  she  finally  confided  all  to 
her  father,  who  was  a  most  skeptical  and  unsym- 
pathetic listener.  He  flew  into  a  rage  and 
threatened  to  punish  Jeanne  severely  if  she 
should  even  contemplate  such  a  thing  as  trying 


50     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

to  save  the  kingdom  of  France.  In  fact  he  ap- 
pealed to  Jeanne's  brother,  saying:  "If  I  thought 
that  Jeanne  was  going  to  leave  here  with  such  an 
idea  in  her  head,  I  would  beg  you  to  drown  her, 
and  if  you  refused  I  would  drown  her  myself." 

Jeanne  had  been  brought  up  to  respect  and 
obey  her  parents.  She  did  not  suppose  that  the 
heavenly  voices  could  ask  her  to  displease  her 
father.  And  yet  she  could  think  of  nothing  else 
but  this  divine  message  to  save  France. 

When  the  vision  took  the  form  of  Saint-Michel 
and  when  this  Saint  exhorted  her  to  set  out  with- 
out delay,  she  responded:  "Sir,  I  am  only  a  poor 
girl.  I  would  not  know  how  to  ride  a  horse,  or 
to  lead  a  company  of  men!"  "God  will  show 
you  the  way,"  the  archangel  responded. 

Meanwhile,  her  father,  with  a  very  human 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  child,  and  the 
natural  desire  that  she  should  be  like  other  girls, 
planned  a  marriage  for  her.  He  appealed  to 
one  of  Jeanne's  suitors  to  declare  that  she  had 
promised  to  become  his  bride.  This  Jeanne 
stoutly  denied,  and,  when  at  last  the  matter  was 
brought  before  the  elders  of  the  church,  every 
one  believed  and  respected  Jeanne. 

Yet  all  this  did  not  simplify  matters  for  the 
poor  young  peasant  girl  whose  inspirations  so  far 
surpassed  the  understanding  of  those  nearest  her 
in  kin.  Finally  she  imagined  a  device  which 
could  give  her  momentary  encouragement  and 
freedom. 


JEANNE  D'ARC  51 

One  of  her  aunts  who  lived  in  a  neighboring 
village  had  fallen  ill.  Jeanne  asked  permission 
to  go  and  care  for  her.  The  extraordinary  con- 
viction with  which  she  talked  to  this  aunt  and 
to  her  uncle  of  her  mission,  convinced  them  that 
she  must  be  assisted. 

It  was  quite  natural  in  those  days  that  the 
poor  peasants  who  wanted  to  accomplish  any- 
thing should  turn  first  to  their  lords  and  masters. 
So  Jeanne,  after  long  conversations  with  her 
uncle,  in  which  she  repeated  to  him  the  prophecy 
that  "a  woman  should  lose  France,  and  that  a 
young  girl  should  save  the  country,"  finally  per- 
suaded him  to  go  with  her  to  see  the  Sire  Robert 
de  Baudricourt,  one  of  the  lords  of  the  region 
of  Vaucouleurs. 

When  Jeanne  was  in  the  presence  of  the  Sire 
of  Baudricourt,  she  said  to  him: 

"I  am  sent  by  our  Lord.  You  are  to  tell  the 
Dauphin  that  he  is  not  to  give  in  to  his  enemies, 
he  must  hold  out  a  little  longer.  The  Lord  will 
send  him  help." 

"What  Lord?"  asked  the  Sire  of  Baudricourt. 

"The  Lord  of  Heaven,"  answered  Jeanne 
d'Arc. 

Baudricourt  greeted  this  response  in  a  brutal 
manner.  Jeanne  insisted.  She  declared: 

"I  have  been  sent  by  God  in  order  thut  I  my- 
self may  lead  the  Dauphin  to  be  crowned." 

"This  girl  is  mad,"  said  Baudricourt,  and  he 
advised  her  uncle  to  take  her  back  to  her  parents. 


52      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

He  even  added  that  her  ears  should  be  boxed! 
•  Jeanne,  in  all  humility,  returned  to  Domremy, 
but  the  voices  continued  to  call  her,  to  call  her 
upon  the  greatest  mission  that  ever  a  woman  was 
born  to  undertake. 

In  1428  the  news  was  bad;  the  Burgundians 
once  again  had  invaded  Domremy,  and  shortly 
afterward  word  came  that  the  English  were  be- 
sieging Orleans. 

Jeanne  set  out  again  for  Vaucouleurs.  She 
visited  the  Sire  of  Baudricourt  and  she  said  to 
him: 

"This  time  I  am  going,  even  though  I  should 
walk  my  legs  off  up  to  the  knees  !" 

Complete  independence  had  come  to  the  spirit 
of  Jeanne,  nothing  could  hold  her  back. 

"If  I  had  a  hundred  fathers  and  a  hundred 
mothers,"  she  declared,  "or  if  I  were  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  King,  I  would  go!" 

Baudricourt,  while  he  was  not  convinced,  was 
impressed.  He  allowed  Jeanne  to  remain  at 
Vaucouleurs  and  he  spoke  of  her  to  his  friends, 
seeking  their  opinion.  He  talked  with  the  Duke 
of  Lorraine  and  other  noblemen  of  this  extraor- 
dinary case. 

Jeanne  remained  at  Vaucouleurs,  in  the  house 
of  a  poor  woman,  whom  she  helped  to  spin  and 
sew  as  she  had  helped  her  own  mother,  going 
often  to  church  and  waiting  to  know  what  would 
be  her  fate.  Her  ardent  conviction  and  her 
peculiarly  strong  and  noble  personality  were  to 


JEANNE  D'ARC  53 

win  for  her  unknown  friends.  A  certain  noble- 
man— Jean  de  Metz — attached  to  the  household 
of  the  Sire  of  Baudricourt,  came  to  visit  Jeanne 
at  Vaucouleurs.  He  questioned  her  as  to  her 
purpose  and  was  so  much  impressed  by  her 
answers,  that  he  took  her  hands  in  his  and 
declared: 

"By  Heaven,  I  shall  lead  you  to  the  King! 
When  do  you  wish  to  leave?" 

"Better  now  than  to-morrow,"  Jeanne  replied, 
"Better  to-morrow  than  later." 

Vaucouleurs  rang  with  this  incident,  and 
shortly  another  nobleman  offered  to  accompany 
Jeanne  to  the  King.  Her  reputation  spread  far 
and  wide. 

Finally  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  became  so  inter- 
ested in  all  the  reports  about  Jeanne  that  he 
asked  to  see  her.  He  was  old  and  ill  and  wished 
to  consult  her  about  his  failing  health.  She 
replied  to  this  great  Lord  that  she  could  not  heal 
him,  but  that  she  urged  him  to  return  to  his  wife 
whom  he  had  abandoned.  He  gave  her  a  cer- 
tain sum  of  money  and  she  went  back  to  Vaucou- 
leurs greatly  encouraged. 

Jean  de  Metz,  who  was  to  accompany  her  on 
her  mission,  was  not  the  only  one  to  be  inspired 
by  her  great  faith.  Indeed  all  the  poor  people 
in  the  country  round  about  brought  her  gifts  so 
that  she  might  be  properly  fitted  out  for  her 
undertaking.  Jean  de  Metz  asked  her  if  she 
intended  traveling  in  her  peasant's  skirts. 


54     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

"I  am  quite  willing,"  Jeanne  answered,  "to 
dress  as  a  man." 

So  a  collection  was  taken  up  in  order  to  buy 
her  an  appropriate  costume ;  they  gave  her  a 
horse,  a  sword,  and  the  complete  equipment  of 
a  soldier. 

Thus,  on  the  25th  of  January,  1429,  accom- 
panied by  a  royal  messenger  and  a  bowsman, 
Jeanne  set  out  upon  her  mission,  the  mission 
which  has  made  her  glorious  throughout  the 
history  of  the  world. 

"Go!"  cried  the  Sire  of  Baudricourt,  "and 
Heaven  knows  what  may  become  of  you !" 

"God  keep  you!"  cried  the  people,   and  the 

women  wept  until  she  was  out  of  sight. 

*          *          * 

Chinon  was  a  long  way  off,  and  the  journey 
thither  was  very  dangerous.  The  English  and 
the  Burgundians  were  masters  of  the  country  in 
some  of  the  regions  where  Jeanne  and  her  little 
escort  were  forced  to  travel  by  night  and  to  hide 
themselves  by  day.  Her  companions,  alarmed, 
were  inclined  to  return  to  Vaucouleurs. 

"Fear  not,"  she  said  to  them,  "God  will  show 
me  the  way.  My  brothers  in  Paradise  will  tell 
me  what  to  do." 

Jeanne  and  her  companions  had  a  journey  of 
about  275  miles  to  cover  before  reaching  the 
Castle  of  Chinon  in  the  Touraine,  where  Charles 
VII  held  his  much  disputed  court.  It  took  them 
eleven  days  to  travel  over  this  distance,  but 


JEANNE  D'ARC  55 

Jeanne  exhorted  her  brothers  in  arms  to  fear 
nothing. 

"God  is  leading  me,"  she  declared.  "It  was 
for  this  that  I  was  born." 

Finally,  having  reached  the  village  of  Sainte- 
Catherine-de-Fierbois,  near  Chinon,  Jeanne  went 
three  times  to  communion  in  the  village  church, 
and  she  wrote  to  the  King  the  same  day,  announc- 
ing her  arrival  and  begging  him  to  receive  her. 
She  explained  to  him  that  she  had  come  a  long 
way  in  order  to  tell  him  things  of  the  greatest 
interest. 

Charles  VII  and  his  courtiers  were  not  con- 
vinced. They  could  scarcely  believe  that  a  peas- 
ant girl  of  Lorraine  could  bring  the  King  assist- 
ance greater  than  that  given  by  his  own  follow- 
ers. The  courtiers  who  were  in  especial  favor, 
and  who  feared  any  new  influence,  opposed  the 
reception  of  Jeanne  d'Arc  by  their  King;  those 
of  a  more  generous  disposition  urged  the  sov- 
ereign to  receive  this  young  girl.  The  Sire  of 
Baudricourt  had  deemed  her  worthy  of  interest, 
and,  moreover,  as  soon  as  she  appeared  it  would 
be  easy  to  judge  of  her  merits,  so  why  not  give 
her  an  audience? 

Two  women,  it  is  curious  to  note,  plead  in 
favor  of  Jeanne  d'Arc:  one  was  the  Queen  of 
Sicily,  mother-in-law  to  the  King  of  France,  the 
other  was  her  daughter,  the  young  Queen,  Marie 
of  Anjou.  They  insisted  that  Jeanne  d'Arc  be 
received  at  court. 


56     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

On  March  6,  1429,  she  arrived,  with  her  com- 
panions at  Chinon,  where  she  was  allowed  to  re- 
main for  several  days,  while  the  King  still  de- 
liberated as  to  whether  or  not  he  should  see  her. 

The  news  from  Orleans  was  bad.  The  King 
had  neither  troops  nor  money  at  his  disposal. 
If  Orleans  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  he 
would  be  obliged  to  seek  refuge  in  Spain  or  in 
Scotland.  The  promise  of  Jeanne  was  that  she 
would  deliver  Orleans.  The  partisans  of  Jeanne 
at  the  court  begged  earnestly  that  this  chance  of 
salvation  should  not  be  thrown  away. 

Finally,  toward  evening,  when  the  nobles  of 
the  court  were  all  gathered  together  in  the  great 
hall  of  Chinon,  where  fifty  torches  were  lighted, 
Jeanne  was  introduced. 

In  order  not  to  attract  the  attention  of  this 
young  shepherdess  who  had  never  seen  the  King, 
Charles  VII  had  dressed  himself  in  clothes  more 
simple  than  those  of  his  courtiers,  and  he  held 
himself  somewhat  apart  from  them.  Jeanne 
however  recognized  him  by  inspiration.  Going 
straight  to  him,  she  kneeled  down  and  said: 

"May  God  bless  you,  dear  Dauphin  !"  (Jeanne 
called  him  Dauphin,  or  prince,  believing  that 
until  he  had  been  crowned  at  Rheims,  he  should 
not  be  addressed  as  "King.") 

"I  am  not  the  King,"  Charles  VII  answered 
her,  "This  is  he,"  and  he  showed  one  of  his 
nobles. 

"You  are  he  and  no  other!"  Jeanne  declared. 


JEANNE  D'ARC  57 

"The  King  of  Heaven  bids  me  tell  you  that  you 
shall  be  anointed  and  crowned." 

She  begged  him  to  give  her  troops  so  that  she 
could  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans,  and  drive  the 
English  out  of  the  country. 

Charles  VII  was  impressed,  but  still  he  hesi- 
tated. He  saw  Jeanne  several  times  and  she 
understood  the  doubts  which  were  troubling  him. 


At   the   Castle    of   Chinon,    near   Tours,    Jeanne    d'Arc   recognizes 
Charles  VII  though  she   has  never  seen   him  before. 

"Gentle  Dauphin,"  she  said,  "why  don't  you 
believe  in  me?  I  tell  you  that  God  has  pity  on 
you  and  on  your  kingdom  and  your  people. 
Saint  Louis  and  Charlemagne  are  on  their  knees 
praying  for  you.  .  .  .  You  must  believe." 

Charles  VII,  his  contemporaries  say,  was  a 
beautiful  prince  and  he  knew  how  to  speak  gra- 
ciously with  every  one.  He  was  merciful  toward 
the  poor  and  he  armed  himself  reluctantly  and 
did  not  care  about  war.  His  hope  was  that  war 


58     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

might  be  avoided.  He  was  not  a  politician,  nor 
was  he  a  chivalrous  soul.  He  was  a  rather 
weak  and  hesitating  character,  who  was  easily  in- 
fluenced by  his  courtiers,  and  who  tried  to  avoid 
rather  than  to  assume  responsibilities. 

Thus,  he  could  not  decide  the  matter  of  what 
to  do  about  Jeanne  d'Arc;  he  preferred  to  have 
her  questioned  by  the  priests  and  doctors  at 
Poitiers,  where  Parliament  was  sitting. 

So  Jeanne  took  up  her  abode  with  one  of  the 
honorable  families  of  Poitiers,  resigned  to  her 
fate,  sure  that  God  would  guide  her  and  aid  her 
to  the  end. 

The  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  the  Chancellor  of 
France,  the  councilors  of  the  King  and  many 
other  important  people  were  assembled  to  inter- 
rogate Jeanne.  For  three  long  weeks  they  ques- 
tioned her;  they  tormented  her  with  all  sorts  of 
sly  remarks. 

"There  is  more  in  the  book  of  God  than  in 
your  books,"  she  answered  them.  "I  don't  know 
my  alphabet,  but  I  have  been  sent  by  our 
Heavenly  Father." 

Her  interlocutors  responded  that  God  did  not 
need  an  armed  force  in  order  to  deliver  France. 
Thereupon  she  rose  up  with  indignation  and  cried 
out: 

"Those  who  are  armed  shall  fight  and  God 
will  give  them  the  Victory!" 

Then  she  begged  that  they  let  her  go  to  Or- 
leans. 


JEANNE  D'ARC  59 

"I  have  not  come  to  discuss  at  Poitiers,"  she 
explained.  "Let  me  have  a  handful  of  men  and 
I  shall  go  to  Orleans  and  give  proof  of  the  reason 
why  I  was  sent." 

She  dictated  an  appeal  to  the  English,  in  which 
she  exhorted  them  to  leave  France. 

"If  they  do  not  obey,"  she  wrote,  "I  shall  drive 
them  out  of  France  whether  they  will  or  no. 
Duke  of  Bedford,"  she  concluded,  exhorting  the 
English  chief,  "if  you  do  not  yield,  you  who  pre- 
tend to  be  the  Regent  of  France,  I,  a  mere  girl, 
shall  accomplish  the  most  splendid  act  which  has 
been  seen  in  Christian  times!" 

In  Poitiers,  as  at  Vaucouleurs,  the  people  were 
fired  with  enthusiasm.  They  looked  upon  Jeanne 
as  an  inspired  saint.  The  doctors  and  the  wise 
men  of  the  church  were  obliged  to  give  way 
before  the  acclamations  of  the  crowd.  Jeanne 
d'Arc  had  already  won  popular  confidence,  as  she 
seemed  to  embody  the  hopes  of  the  people  re- 
garding France. 

Charles  VII  could  no  longer  hesitate. 

He  gave  orders  that  this  remarkable  young 
girl  should  be  treated  as  a  "war  chief."  She 
was  given  an  equerry,  a  page,  two  heralds,  a 
chaplain,  besides  valets  and  servants  in  number. 
She  was  fitted  out  with  a  complete  suit  of  armor. 
The  King  himself  wished  to  present  her  with  a 
sword.  She  asked  for  one  that  she  had  seen  in 
the  chapel  of  Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois  and 
she  requested  also  that  a  standard  be  given  her 


6o     //  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

of  white  cloth,  strewn  with  fleurs-de-lys  and  bear- 
ing the  image  of  God  seated  among  the  clouds 
holding  the  world  in  his  hand.  The  words 
"Jesus.  Marie,"  were  embroidered  on  this 
banner. 

Thus  equipped  and  more  than  ever  anxious  to 
be  off  for  the  battlefield,  Jeanne  and  her  little 
company  set  out  on  Thursday,  April  28,  1429. 
She  led  the  way,  her  banner  flying  in  the  wind, 
singing  the  Vem  Creator.  She  wanted  to  march 
straight  to  Orleans.  The  chiefs  thought  it  more 
prudent  to  take  the  left  bank  of  the  Loire. 

At  Checy,  about  seven  miles  from  Orleans,  it 
was  necessary  to  cross  the  river,  but  no  boats 
were  to  be  found.  Jeanne  continued  with  a  part 
of  her  escort;  the  remainder  of  her  troops  were 
obliged  to  return  to  Blois,  and  to  proceed  from 
there  to  Orleans  by  way  of  Beauce. 

This  breaking  up  of  her  group  sorely  tried 
Jeanne's  soul.  She  confided  her  banner  to  those 
who  were  to  follow  her  later,  and  proceeded 
under  escort  of  a  small  body  of  two  hundred 
men,  with  provisions  and  arms,  to  Orleans. 

To  the  officer  who  came  out  to  meet  her  on 
her  way  she  declared: 

"I  am  bringing  you  the  best  possible  help,  the 
help  of  the  Heavenly  Father;  it  does  not  come 
from  me,  but  from  God  Himself,  who,  answering 
the  prayers  of  Saint  Louis  and  of  Charlemagne, 
has  taken  pity  on  the  City  of  Orleans." 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  Jeanne  entered 


The  triumphant  entry  of  Jeanne  d'Arc  into  the  city  of  Orleans. 


61 


62      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

Orleans.  The  people  threw  themselves  before 
her.  By  torch  light  she  traversed  the  town,  pass- 
ing through  a  crowd  so  dense  that  she  could 
scarcely  make  her  way.  Men,  women  and  chil- 
dren pressed  forward;  they  wanted  to  get  near 
her,  to  touch  her  horse,  if  nothing  else;  they 
showed  as  much  joy  as  though  -'God  had  ap- 
peared among  them." 

The  feeling  of  relief  was  general.  The 
masses  who  had  seen  Jeanne  were  comforted,  so 
say  the  ancient  records  and  they  seemed  to  have 
been  delivered  by  the  divine  virtue  of  this  simple 
peasant  girl.  Jeanne  talked  with  them  gently, 
she  promised  to  save  them. 

She  asked  to  be  led  to  the  church,  wanting, 
first  of  all,  to  give  thanks  to  God. 

As  one  of  the  old  men  of  the  town  said  to 
Jeanne,  referring  to  the  English : 

"Daughter,  they  are  strong,  and  well  fortified. 
It  would  be  a  great  thing  if  we  could  drive  them 
out." 

Jeanne  answered:  "With  God  nothing  is  im- 
possible." 

Thus  her  confidence  won  the  trust  of  all  with 
whom  she  came  in  contact.  The  inhabitants  of 
Orleans,  who,  the  day  before,  had  been  panic- 
stricken,  wanted  now  to  throw  themselves  on 
the  enemy  and  seize  all  the  fortresses.  Dunois, 
the  chief  officer,  fearing  a  defeat,  decided  that, 
before  beginning  an  attack,  they  must  wait  for 
the  reinforcements  whom  they  had  left  behind 


JEANNE  D'ARC  63 

at  the  crossing  of  the  Loire.  Jeanne  meanwhile 
commanded  the  English  to  withdraw  and  to  re- 
turn to  their  own  country.  They  answered  her 
sneeringly. 

Time  went  on  and  no  news  came  from  the 
troops  at  Blois.  Dunois  finally  set  out  to  expe- 
dite matters.  It  was  none  too  soon.  The  arch- 
bishop of  Rheims,  having  reconsidered  his  first 
decision,  was  about  to  send  the  troops  back  to 
their  garrison.  Dunois  was  soon  leading  them 
on  the  way  to  Orleans.  In  anticipation  of  their 
arrival,  Jeanne  left  Orleans,  on  May  4.  Sur- 
rounded by  the  clergy  of  the  town,  and  followed 
by  the  greater  part  of  the  population,  she  pro- 
ceeded, advancing  to  meet  Dunois'  army.  She 
passed  the  English  fortifications,  going  and  com- 
ing, without  the  enemy  daring  to  attack  the  army 
which  had  placed  itself  under  the  protection  of 
the  priests  and  of  a  young  girl. 

That  same  day,  as  Jeanne  was  resting,  she 
roused  herself  with  a  start  and  cried  out: 

"Oh,  God!  The  blood  of  our  soldiers  is  be- 
ing shed  upon  the  ground.  This  should  not  be ! 
Why  did  they  not  call  me?  Quickly,  my  arms 
and  my  horse !" 

Aided  by  the  women  of  the  household,  she 
armed  herself  rapidly,  and  springing  into  the  sad- 
dle she  set  out  at  a  gallop,  her  standard  in  her 
hand,  riding  directly  toward  the  gate  of  Bur- 
gundy. She  sped  on  so  quickly  that  the  sparks 
flew  from  the  pavement  under  the  horse's  hoofs. 


64     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

It  was  quite  true  that,  without  any  warning, 
the  fortress  of  Saint  Loup  had  been  attacked. 
This  maneuver  had  met  with  failure  and  the 
French  were  withdrawing  in  disorder.  Jeanne 
rallied  them,  led  them  back  to  face  the  enemy, 
and  started  a  fresh  offensive.  Talbot  tried  in 
vain  to  reach  the  English  and  help  them.  Jeanne, 
standing  at  the  foot  of  the  ramparts,  exhorted 
her  men.  The  English  held  out  for  three  hours. 
In  spite  of  their  desperate  defense,  the  fortress 
fell.  The  English  had  lost. 

Victorious,  Jeanne  entered  Orleans.  But,  as 
she  was  returning  toward  the  city,  her  heart  over- 
flowing with  joy,  she  felt  suddenly  overwhelmed 
as  she  caught  sight  of  the  dead  and  wounded. 
She  began  to  weep,  thinking  "that  they  had  died 
without  being  able  to  confess  their  sins."  She 
said  that  she  had  "never  seen  the  blood  of  France 
flow  without  her  hair  standing  on  end." 

It  was  urgent  to  decide  now  how  the  offensive 
against  the  English  was  to  be  carried  on  to  suc- 
cess. 

The  Chiefs,  who  did  not  care  much  to  be  led 
by  a  simple  farmer's  daughter,  or  to  share  with 
her  the  glories  of  victory,  got  together  in  secret 
to  discuss  the  best  plan  to  follow. 

Jeanne  presented  herself  at  this  council,  and, 
as  the  Chancellor  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  sought 
to  conceal  from  her  the  decisions  which  had  been 
arrived  at: 

"Tell  me,"  she  cried,  indignant,  "what  it  is 


JEANNE  D'ARC  65 

that  you  have  decided  to  do.  I  can  keep  greater 
secrets  than  this!" 

Then  she  added: 

"You  have  held  your  council,  and  I  have  held 
mine.  Rest  assured  that  the  wisdom  of  God  will 
triumph  and  yours  will  perish.  You  must  get  up 
early  to-morrow  morning,  for  I  shall  have  much 

to  do,  more  than  I  have  ever  had  in  my  life." 

*          *          * 

The  next  day,  the  6th  of  May,  she  seized  the 
fortress  of  the  Augustins.  Saturday,  the  yth, 
at  daybreak,  the  attack  was  begun  on  the  fortress 
of  Tournelles.  Jeanne  had  gone  down  into  the 
trenches,  and  had  placed  a  ladder  against  the 
enemy's  parapets.  At  this  moment  a  crossbow 
sent  its  arrow  through  her  shoulder.  She  pulled 
the  steel  from  her  arm  and  when  they  asked  her 
if  she  wanted  some  one  to  "charm"  the  wound  she 
refused. 

"I  would  rather  die,"  she  said,  "than  do  what 
might  be  contrary  to  the  will  of  God." 

She  prayed  for  a  long  time  while  the  troops 
were  resting.  Then  giving  orders  for  a  fresh 
assault,  she  threw  herself  into  the  midst  of  the 
combat,  calling  out  to  the  soldiers: 

"All  is  yours!      Forward!" 

The  fortress  was  taken,  and  all  those  who 
were  defending  it  perished.  There  was  only  one 
Englishman  left  alive  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Loire. 


66     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

The  following  Sunday,  the  English  drew  up  in 
battle  line  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Loire. 
Jeanne  forbade  an  attack  being  made.  She  set 
up  an  altar  and  mass  was  celebrated  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  entire  army.  When  the  ceremony 
was  over  she  said  to  those  who  surrounded  her : 

"See  whether  the  English  have  their  faces  or 
their  backs  turned  toward  us." 

As  she  was  told  that  the  English  were  retiring 
in  the  direction  of  Meung,  she  said: 

"In  the  name  of  God,  if  they  are  withdrawing, 
let  them  go;  it  does  not  please  the  Lord  that  we 
should  fight  them  to-day:  you  will  get  them  an- 
other time." 

Orleans,  which  had  been  besieged  for  eight 
months,  was  delivered  in  four  days. 

The  news  of  its  rescue  spread  far  and  wide, 
proving  to  all  the  divinity  of  Jeanne's  mission. 

With  a  saintly  sort  of  modesty  she  wished  to 
avoid  the  expressions  of  gratitude  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Orleans.  She  returned  with  all  speed 
to  Chinon. 

Profiting  by  the  general  enthusiasm  which  she 
had  aroused,  she  desired  now  to  leave  at  once 
for  Rheims,  and  to  induce  the  King  to  go  with 
her,  so  that  he  might  be  anointed. 

The  King  received  her  with  great  honors,  but 
he  refused  to  follow  her. 

It  was  decided  that  Jeanne  should  attack  the 
other  strongholds  which  the  English  still  occupied 
on  the  banks  of  the  Loire. 


JEANNE  D'ARC  67 

On  June  u,  the  French  had  advanced  as  far 
as  the  outskirts  of  Jargeau.  The  following  day, 
at  dawn,  Jeanne  gave  the  signal  for  combat. 
The  Duke  of  Alencon  wanted  to  postpone  the 
attack: 

"Forward,  kind  Duke,"  Jeanne  said  to  him. 
"Have  no  doubts  this  is  God's  hour.  Work,  and 
God  will  work." 

She  climbed  up  on  the  parapet,  but  she  was 
overcome  by  a  stone  which  struck  her  on  the 
head.  She  sprang  up  however,  calling  out  to 
her  people: 

"Friends,  forward,  be  upon  them!  God  is 
against  the  English;  they  are  ours  now.  Cour 
age!" 

The  English,  in  flight,  were  pursued  to  the 
town  bridge,  where  they  were  captured  or  killed. 
Suffolk  was  taken  prisoner.  On  June  15,  the 
French  were  masters  of  the  bridge  of  Meung; 
the  1 6th  they  laid  seige  to  Beaugency,  the  I7th 
the  city  capitulated. 

On  June  i8th,  Jeanne  had  overtaken  the  Eng- 
lish army  near  Patay.  Talbot  and  Falstaff  were 
in  command. 

"In  God's  name  we  must  fight  them,"  she  said, 
"if  they  must  be  hung  as  high  as  the  clouds,  we 
shall  get  them,  because  God  has  sent  them  to  us 
for  us  to  punish  them.  Our  dear  King  shall  to- 
day have  the  greatest  victory  he  has  seen." 

She  wanted  to  be  first  in  line,  but  they  held 
her  back.  La  Hire  was  ordered  to  attack  the 


68     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

English  and  to  make  them  face  about,  while  the 
French  troops  were  gaining  time  to  get  into  posi- 
tion. La  Hire's  offensive  was  so  violent  that  he 
carried  everything  before  him.  When  Jeanne 
rode  up  with  her  men  the  English  were  retreating 
in  disorder.  Their  retreat  became  a  flight. 
Talbot  was  taken  prisoner. 


The  Cathedral  of  Rheims  before  the  passage  of  the  Huns  who, 
since    1914,    have    practically    destroyed    it. 

"You  did  not  think  this  morning  that  such  a 
thing  could  happen  to  you,"  said  the  Duke  of 
Alengon. 

"Such  are  the  fortunes  of  war,"  Talbot  re- 
plied. 

The  English  lost  four  thousand  dead  and  two 
hundred  prisoners.  Jeanne's  heart  was  as  com- 
passionate for  the  wounded  English  as  for  those 
of  her  own  army.  For  that  matter  she  faced 


JEANNE  D'ARC  69 

battle,  was  often  wounded  herself,  but  would  not 
ever  use  her  sword;  her  standard  was  her  only 
arm. 

On  July  1 6,  the  King  made  his  entry  into  the 
city  of  Rheims  at  the  head  of  his  troops.  The 
following  day  the  ceremony  of  the  coronation 
was  held,  in  the  midst  of  a  great  crowd  of  nobles 
and  people,  in  the  very  cathedral  which  the  Ger- 
mans have  bombarded  and  endeavored  to  de- 
stroy since  the  beginning  of  the  present  war. 
Jeanne  stood  behind  the  King,  her  standard  in 
her  hand. 

"This  standard,"  she  said,  "has  suffered  often. 
It  has  been  present  at  many  sad  scenes,  it  is  just 
that  it  should  share  in  the  honors." 

When  Charles  VII  had  received  from  the 
Archbishop  Regnault  de  Chartres  the  sacred  oint- 
ment and  the  crown,  Jeanne  threw  herself  at  his 
feet,  kissed  his  knees  and  with  the  tears  pouring 
from  her  eyes  she  said: 

"Oh,  gentle  Sire,  the  good  will  of  God  has 
been  accomplished.  He  wanted  me  to  bring  you 
to  Rheims  to  be  anointed,  to  show  that  you  are 
the  .true  King  and  that  the  kingdom  of  France 
belongs  to  you!" 

The  old  chronicles  say:  "All  who  saw  her  at 
that  moment  more  than  ever  believed  that  she 
was  one  who  had  been  sent  by  God." 

"Oh,  the  good  and  devout  people!"  cried 
Jeanne  as  she  saw  the  enthusiasm  of  the  crowd 


70     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

around  the  King.      "If  I  were  to  die  I  would  be 
happy  to  be  buried  here!" 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  touching  than 
the  eagerness  of  the  people  as  they  crowded 
around  Jeanne.  They  vied  with  each  other  to 
kiss  her  hands,  her  clothes.  They  brought  her 
little  children  to  bless,  and  rosaries,  and  sacred 
pictures,  so  that  she  might  sanctify  them  by  the 
mere  touch  of  her  fingers.  And  she,  with  great 
humility,  discouraged  these  expressions  of  adora- 
tion; she  smiled  and  made  light  of  the  belief 
which  these  poor  people  showed  in  her  power. 
She  asked  them  on  what  days  and  at  what  hours 
their  children  went  to  communion,  so  that  she 
could  go  with  them.  Her  compassion  was  with 
all  who  suffered,  and  her  tenderness  went  out  to 
the  children  and  to  the  poor.  She  felt  as  though 
she  were  their  sister,  as  though  she  had  been  born 
among  them. 

Later,  when  she  was  accused  of  having  encour- 
aged this  adoration  of  the  people,  she  answered 
simply: 

"Many  people  were  anxious  to  see  me,  but  I 
kept  them  as  best  I  could  from  kissing  my  hands. 
The  poor  came  to  me  naturally  because  I  did  not 
offend  them." 

*          *          * 

After  the  coronation  at  Rheims,  Jeanne  wanted 
to  set  out  at  once  for  Paris  and  take  the  capital 
of  the  kingdom.  The  King  was  uncertain,  and 
his  hesitation  gave  the  English  time  to  prepare 


JEANNE  D'ARC  71 

their  defense.  Their  first  attack  was  repulsed; 
Jeanne  was  wounded  by  a  lance  which  pierced 
her  thigh.  They  had  to  carry  her  by  force  from 
the  ramparts  in  order  to  make  her  desist  from 
fighting. 

The  following  day  the  King  insisted  that  the 
attack  should  not  be  resumed. 

The  King  was  not  so  brave  as  Jeanne,  and  this 
enforced  surrender  was  overwhelming  for  her. 


Jeanne  d'Arc  is  taken  prisoner  by  the   English  at  Compiegne. 

From  that  moment  she  ceased  to  appear  invinc- 
ible in  the  eyes  of  all.  And  it  seemed  as  though 
she  felt  this  waning  of  her  forces. 

Before  leaving  the  neighborhood  of  Paris,  she 
made  an  offering  on  the  altar  of  the  cathedral  at 
Saint-Denis.  She  placed  her  arms  upon  the 
altar,  those  arms  which  until  then  had  known 
only  victory.  She  prayed  for  a  long  time.  Per- 
haps she  had  the  presentiment  that  her  glorious 
mission  was  ended,  and  that  great  trials  were  in 


72      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

store  for  her.  Yet  she  made  no  protestation, 
and,  with  her  heart  as  heavy  as  death,  she  fol- 
lowed the  King  to  Gien.  The  army  was  dis- 
banded. The  people  at  court  felt  that  there  had 
been  enough  of  wars.  They  were  moreover 
jealous  of  Jeanne  and  thought  it  time  her  suc- 
cesses should  cease. 

Jeanne  could  not  accept  this  role  of  idleness 
they  wished  to  impose  upon  her.  Abandoned 
and  without  aid,  during  the  siege  of  La  Charite, 
she  realized  that  she  could  expect  no  help  from 
Charles  VII. 

Finally,  toward  the  end  of  March  1430,  with- 
out taking  leave  of  the  King,  she  set  out  to  rejoin 
at  Lagny  the  French  troops  who  were  having 
daily  skirmishes  with  the  English. 

During  Easter  week,  as  she  had  just  been  to 
mass  and  to  communion  at  the  church  of  Saint 
Jacques,  in  Compiegne,  she  began  to  weep,  hid- 
ing herself  behind  one  of  the  columns  of  the 
church. 

The  people  of  the  town  and  the  children 
gathered  about  her  and  she  said  to  them : 

"Friends  and  children,  I  must  tell  you  that  I 
have  been  sold  and  betrayed,  and  that  soon  I 
shall  be  delivered  up  to  my  death.  I  beg  you 
to  pray  for  me,  for  never  again  shall  I  have  the 
power  to  serve  the  King  and  the  kingdom  of 
France." 

On  May  23,  finding  herself  at  Crespy,  she 
learned  that  the  Burgundians  were  closing  down 


Jeanne   d'Arc.     This  statue,   by   Fremiet,    stands   on   the 
Place   des    Pyramides,   Paris. 


74      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

upon  the  city  of  Compiegne.  She  hastened 
thither  with  four  hundred  combatants  and  en- 
tered the  town  on  the  24th,  at  dawn.  Then, 
taking  part  of  the  garrison  with  her,  she  attacked 
the  Burgundians.  But  the  English  came  to  fight 
her,  and  they  forced  the  French  to  withdraw. 

"Think  only  of  forging  ahead,  of  riding  into 
them,"  she  cried.  "It  is  in  your  hands  not  to 
be  overcome." 

But  she  was  obliged  to  fall  back  in  the  general 
retreat.  Brought  to  the  ramparts  of  Compiegne 
again,  the  French  found  the  draw-bridge  lifted 
and  the  portcullis  closed.  Jeanne,  driven  into 
the  ditches,  continued  an  heroic  defense.  A 
whole  company  threw  themselves  upon  her. 

"Give  yourself  up!"  they  cried. 

"I  have  pledged  my  faith  to  another  than 
you,"  she  answered,  "and  I  shall  keep  my 
promise  to  Him!" 

But  resistance  was  vain.  Dragged  from  her 
horse,  she  was  made  captive  and  though  the 
governor  of  Compiegne  saw  them  take  her 
prisoner,  he  did  nothing  to  help  her. 

Jeanne  was  led  to  Margny,  amidst  the  shouts 
of  joy  of  her  enemies.  The  English  and  Bur- 
gundian  leaders,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  himself, 
hastened  to  see  this  "sorceress."  They  found 
themselves  face  to  face  with  a  girl  of  eighteen 
years  old. 

Jeanne  was  the  prisoner  of  Jean  de  Luxem- 
bourg, a  gentleman  without  fortune,  who  did  not 


JEANNE  D'ARC  75 

scorn  making  something  out  of  his  prize.  Ten 
thousand  francs  was  the  price  paid  for  Jeanne 
d'Arc  by  the  English.  Nor  did  Charles  VII 
propose  to  ransom  this  captive  who  had  made 
him  King  of  France.  It  almost  seemed  as 
though  those  who  owed  Jeanne  the  most  were 
now  seized  with  a  superstitious  terror  which 
made  them  afraid  to  show  her  even  common 
loyalty. 

She  was  imprisoned  by  Jean  de  Luxembourg, 
first  in  one  castle,  then  in  another;  and  though 
she  was  always  under  close  watch,  she  tried  twice 
to  escape.  The  second  time,  in  October  1430, 
she  jumped  from  the  top  of  the  dungeon  in 
which  they  had  locked  her.  The  cords,  which 
she  had  fastened  about  her  waist,  broke  with  the 
weight  of  her  body  and  she  fell,  bruised  and 
bleeding,  at  the  foot  of  the  wall  where  she  lay 
as  though  dead.  She  was  however  to  recover 
from  these  wounds:  a  more  cruel  fate  awaited 
her. 

Her  youth,  her  courage,  and  her  wonderful 
character  were  to  win  her  friends  even  in  her 
prison  cell.  Both  the  wife  and  the  aunt  of  Jean 
de  Luxembourg  showed  an  affectionate  interest  in 
Jeanne  d'Arc,  and  tried  to  make  her  captivity 
less  cruel.  These  two  women  were  more  con- 
ventional than  their  illustrious  protegee.  They 
objected  strongly  that  Jeanne  should  wear  men's 
clothes.  They  even  went  so  far  as  to  offer 
dresses  of  their  own  or  material  to  make  her 


76      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

some  more  feminine  garb,  but  she  replied  cour- 
teously that  she  had  not  yet  been  released  by 
the  Saviour,  and  that  it  was  too  soon  to  think 
of  such  things. 

When  the  English  questioned  Jean  de  Luxem- 
bourg in  the  hope  of  buying  his  prisoner  from 
him,  his  aunt  besought  him  not  to  dishonor  the 
family  name  by  such  disgraceful  traffic.  But 
Jean  de  Luxembourg  was  unscrupulous.  He 
took  advantage  of  a  clause  in  the  law  which  pro- 
vided that  the  English  had  the  right  to  purchase 
any  war  prisoner,  be  he  King,  dauphin,  or  prince, 
for  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  francs  to  be  allotted 
to  the  captor. 

The  hesitations  of  Jean  de  Luxembourg  were 
brought  suddenly  to  an  end  by  the  death  of  the 
aunt  who  momentarily  had  stirred  his  conscience. 

On  November  13,  the  King  of  England,  in- 
formed, deposited  in  the  right  hands  the  value 
of  ten  thousand  francs  in  English  gold.  Just 
one  week  later,  Jean  de  Luxembourg  had  over- 
come his  last  scruples  and,  on  November  21, 
1430,  Jeanne  d'Arc  became  the  possession  of 
the  King  of  England.  On  the  same  day  the 
rectors  of  the  University  of  Paris  begged  this 
sovereign,  whom  they  recognized  as  the  King  of 
France,  to  have  Jeanne  d'Arc  prosecuted  by  the 
Church. 

Jeanne  was  taken,  not  to  Paris,  but  to  Rouen, 
which  was  then  the  veritable  English  capital  in 


JEANNE  D'ARC  77 

France.  Here  she  was  cast  into  prison,  await- 
ing her  trial. 

Jean  de  Luxembourg,  moved  perhaps  by  an 
uneasy  conscience,  visited  the  prisoner  with  sev- 
eral of  the  English  Lords,  the  Earl  of  Warwick, 
the  Earl  of  Stafford  and  others. 

"Jeanne,"  Luxembourg  said  to  her,  "I  have 
come  to  give  you  money,  and  to  arrange  for  your 
ransom.  You  need  only  promise  that  you  will 
never  take  up  arms  against  us  again." 

"In  the  name  of  God,"  Jeanne  answered, 
"you  are  making  fun  of  me,  I  suppose?  You 
want  to  ransom  me?  You  have  neither  the 
means  nor  the  power!" 

The  Count  insisted;  and  Jeanne  replied: 

"I  know  that  the  English  will  put  me  to  death. 
Yet,  though  there  were  one  hundred  thousand 
more  God-damns  than  there  are  already  in 
France,  they  shall  not  have  the  kingdom!" 

The  Earl  of  Stafford  thereupon  unsheathed 
his  dagger  as  though  he  were  about  to  strike 
Jeanne,  but  Warwick  stopped  him.  The  visi- 
tors left  the  prison  and  Jeanne  was  given  over 
to  her  judges. 

Strangely  enough — or  rather  naturally  enough 
— the  Scotchmen  who  were  in  France  espoused 
the  cause  of  Jeanne  d'Arc.  As  she  was  trans- 
ferred from  one  prison  to  another,  at  Arras  a 
Scotchman  showed  her  a  portrait  of  herself 
which  he  always  carried  with  him  as  a  symbol 
of  the  devotion  which  her  followers  felt  for  her. 


78      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

At  Amiens  she  was  given  communion  by  the 
chancellor  of  the  cathedral.  At  Abbeville,  the 
noblewomen  of  the  neighborhood  walked  fifteen 
miles  in  order  to  visit  Jeanne;  they  praised  her 
for  her  unfailing  faith  in  Jesus,  and  they  wept  in 
taking  leave  of  her. 

Though  her  destiny  was  now  to  be  ever  in- 
creasingly tragic,  she  was  still  the  idol  of  those 
who  loved  France,  and  who  believed  in  God. 

Her  trial  lasted  from  February  21  until  May 
3Oth,  1431.  Most  of  the  forty  sessions  were 
held  in  the  chapel  of  the  Castle  of  Rouen,  some 
of  them  in  the  prison  cell,  where  Jeanne  was  at 
first  put  in  an  iron  cage  and  afterward  simply 
chained  to  the  wall. 

The  long  and  painful  inquisition  to  which 
Jeanne  was  submitted  by  her  judges  forms  one 
of  the  most  poignant  documents  of  religious  per- 
secution. Not  even  the  menace  of  torture,  when 
the  instruments  were  placed  before  her  eyes, 
could  force  this  heroic  martyr  to  confess  one 
word  which  did  not  appear  to  her  as  absolute 
truth,  nor  even  to  make  statements  which  might 
in  any  way  compromise  those  to  whom  she  owed 
loyalty. 

Finally,  Jeanne  was  condemned,  by  the  eccle- 
siasts  who  were  her  judges,  to  perpetual  confine- 
ment with  a  diet  of  bread  and  water. 

The  Church,  which  considered  her  a  heretic, 
was  satisfied.  The  King  of  England  and  his 
councilors  were  not.  They  were  animated  by 


JEANNE  D'ARC  79 

fear  of  what  Jeanne  might  do  if  she  were  allowed 
to  live,  and  by  a  desire  to  avenge  what  she  had 
already  accomplished. 

As  the  trial  dragged  on,  the  English,  finding 
that  it  did  not  proceed  rapidly  enough,  cried  out 
to  the  members  of  the  Court: 

"Judges,  you  are  not  earning  your  payl" 

To  this  Jeanne  replied: 

"I  came  to  the  King  of  France,  sent  by  God, 
by  the  Virgin  Mary.  You  say  that  you  are  my 
judges?  Beware  lest  you  yourselves  be  in  dan- 
ger. I  am  sent  by  God." 

This  sacred  heroine  was  at  last  condemned  as 
a  heretic,  an  idolatress,  a  renegade.  The  sen- 
tence read  that  she  was  to  be  burned  alive  on  the 
square  of  the  Vieux  Marche  at  Rouen. 

"Bishop,"  she  said,  addressing  herself  to  her 
chief  judge,  Cauchon,  "I  die  because  of  you." 

On  May  3Oth,  Jeanne  confessed  her  sins  and 
took  Holy  Communion. 

When  she  had  reached  the  foot  of  the  scaffold, 
she  knelt  and  invoked  God,  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  the  Saints  with  whom  she  had  so  often  been 
in  close  and  mysterious  touch.  Then,  turning 
toward  the  Bishops,  toward  her  judges,  her  ene- 
mies, she  begged  them  reverently  to  have  masses 
said  for  her  soul. 

She  mounted  serenely  the  platform  upon 
which  she  was  to  be  burned,  submitted  quietly, 
while  her  executioners  bound  her  lest  she  might 
escape,  and  lighted  the  fagots  under  her  feet. 


8o     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


As  the  flames  crept  up  about  her,  she  died, 
pronouncing  the  name  of  Jesus.  Every  one  was 
weeping.  One  of  the  secretaries  of  the  English 
King  cried  out: 

"We  are  lost!     We  have  burned  a  Saint." 

Nor  did  the  English  derive  any  benefit  from 
the  martyrdom  which  they  had  inflicted  upon 
Jeanne  d'Arc.  The  French,  on  the  contrary,  in- 
spired by  what  she  had  accomplished,  redoubled 
their  attack  against  the  enemy,  and  succeeded  in 
driving  him  from  France.  In  1453,  tne  on^Y 
city  held  by  the  English,  at  the  close  of  the  Hun- 
dred Years'  War,  was  Calais. 

Charles  VII  organized  a  strong  army  for  de- 
fense and,  moreover,  with  the  assistance  of 
Jacques  Coeur,  his  silversmith,  or  what  to-day 
would  be  called  his  banker,  he  elaborated  plans 
for  the  lasting  encouragement  of  commerce. 


The   banner   of  Jeanne   d'Arc. 


IV.  — MODERN  TIMES 

LOUIS   XI 

The  son  of  Charles  VII — Louis  XI — was  to 
be  one  of  the  most  terrible  and  one  of  the 
greatest  Kings  of  France. 


i 

Louis    XI,    the    democratic   despot. 

As  soon  as  he  came  to  the  throne,  he  started 
to  fight  the  Feudal  Lords.  The  most  powerful 
of  them  was  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  Charles, 
surnamed  the  Bold. 

Louis  XI,  with  ferocious  tenacity,  pursued 
Charles  the  Bold  to  his  death.  The  latter  was 
killed  near  Nancy  in  1477  and  Louis  XI  became 
the  possessor  of  Burgundy.  He  added  also  to 

81 


82      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

the  kingdom  of  France  the  provinces  of  Maine, 
Anjou  and  Provence. 

This  gradual  elimination  of  the  various  hos- 
tile states  within  the  State  was  a  most  important 
work.  It  contributed  to  the  suppression  of  the 
constant  conflict  of  interests  between  the  nobles 
and  the  King,  but  the  methods  of  Louis  XI  were 
ferociously  cruel.  He  was  a  sort  of  democratic 
despot.  He  affected  great  simplicity  in  his  dress 
and  in  his  manner  of  living.  In  striking  contrast 
to  the  Feudal  Lords,  who  clad  themselves  in 
gold  cloth  and  velvets,  and  who  surrounded 
themselves  with  luxurious  splendor,  Louis  XI 
wore  a  short  coat,  sometimes  mended  with 
patches,  and  a  small,  shabby  felt  hat.  He  was 
superstitious  and  always  hung  around  his  neck  a 
collection  of  medals  and  relics.  His  greatest 
friends  were  his  barber,  Olivier  Le  Daim,  and 
his  executioner,  Tristan  1'Hermite. 

History  records  his  character  as  having  been 
hypocritical,  vindictive  and  wicked.  He  is  sup- 
posed to  have  promised  much  and  given  nothing. 
He  lived  in  his  Chateau  at  Plessis-lez-Tours,  in 
the  Touraine.  This  habitation,  which  he  pre- 
ferred to  all  others,  was  in  the  midst  of  a  somber 
and  lugubrious  forest;  his  only  neighbors  were 
the  crows  who  lived  in  the  trees. 

Quite  without  scruples,  Louis  XI  cast  his  ene- 
mies into  prison  and  had  them  executed,  or  he 
shut  them  up  in  cages  to  perish  slowly.-  The 
dungeons  where  he  tortured  his  victims  are  still 


MODERN  TIMES  83 

to  be  seen  at  the  castle  of  Loches,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Tours. 

In  spite  of  his  personal  cruelty,  Louis  XI 
made  good  laws;  he  was  a  revolution  in  himself, 
as  he  finally  destroyed  the. party  of  nobles  which 
for  so  long  had  been  a  menace  to  the  throne  of 
France.  He  died  at  Plessis-lez-Tours,  in  1483. 

GREAT    INVENTIONS    AND    DISCOVERIES 

During  this  eventful  century  (1400-1500) 
which,  broadly  speaking,  marked  the  end  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  the  beginning  of  modern  times, 
several  inventions  and  discoveries  were  made, 
important  enough  to  change  the  character  of 
civilization. 

In  1436,  printing  was  invented  by  Jean  Guten- 
berg, who  was  born  at  Mayence.  Before  this, 
all  books  had  been  written  or  printed  by  hand, 
and  they  naturally  cost  such  a  great  price  that 
only  the  very  rich  could  afford  to  own  a  library. 
As  soon  as  Gutenberg  had  invented  the  printing 
press,  great  quantities  of  books  were  distributed 
among  the  people,  who  began  from  that  moment 
to  study  widely. 

Another  discovery  which  changed  the  nature, 
not  of  peaceful  pursuits,  but  of  war  itself,  was 
that  of  the  adaptation  of  Chinese  gunpowder  to 
fire  arms.  After  the  battle  of  Crecy  in  1346, 
cannon  and  rifles  were  used  generally. 

Finally,   the    invention    of   the   compass   per- 


84     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

mitted  those  of  a  venturesome  mind  to  explore 
the  seas  in  search  of  new  continents.  Christo- 
pher Columbus  thus  set  forth  upon  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  on  the  expedition  which,  on  October  12, 
1492,  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  America. 

This  greater  activity  upon  the  high  seas  had 
an  immediate  effect  in  encouraging  the  commerce 
of  France. 

THE  CHEVALIER  BAYARD 

Charles  VIII,  son  of  Louis  XI,  was  the  last  of 
the  Capetian-Valois  dynasty.  Married  to  Anne, 
the  Duchess,  he  united  to  the  throne,  by  this 
alliance,  the  vast  province  of  Brittany. 

The  great  hero  of  these  times  was  Bayard, 
surnamed  "the  Chevalier  without  fear  and  with- 
out reproach."  He  was  born  near  Grenoble  in 

1477- 

When  Charles  VIII  undertook  his  first  cam- 
paign in  Italy,  Bayard,  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
distinguished  himself  as  an  incomparable  war- 
rior. Two  horses  were  killed  under  him,  but  he 
managed  to  seize  the  enemy's  standard  and  carry 
it  triumphant  to  the  King.  Alone,  single- 
handed,  on  another  occasion,  he  held  a  bridge, 
over  which  the  enemy  was  passing.  One  by  one, 
as  the  Spanish  and  Italians  advanced,  he  struck 
them  down,  and  thus,  unaided,  he  saved  the 
French  army. 

He  died  on  the  battlefield  in  1524.     His  last 


request  was  that  he  should  be  turned  about  so 
as  to  face  the  enemy,  to  whom,  he  declared,  he 
had  never  shown  his  back. 

Louis  XII,  the  next  King  (1498-1515),  was 
a  cousin  of  Charles  VIII,  who  died  without  heirs. 
He  continued  the  wars  against  Italy  begun  by 


The  Castle  of  Blois,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  chateaux  in  France. 

his  predecessor,  and  he  married  the  widow  of 
Charles  VIII,  thus  by  this  second  alliance  weld- 
ing the  duchy  of  Brittany  to  the  throne  of  France. 
He  was  good  and  wise  and  was  called  "the 
father  of  his  country." 

THE  RENAISSANCE 

The  next  century  (1500-1600),  the  century  of 
the  Renaissance  or  rebirth  of  the  arts,  was  of 


86     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

great  importance  in  the  history  of  civilization, 
because  of  its  refining  effect  upon  society.  Intel- 
lectual pursuits  were  stimulated  and  religious 
freedom  encouraged. 


Frangois    I   who    started   the    Renaissance    of   art   in    France. 

The  Kings  of  France  who  succeeded  each 
other  during  these  hundred  years  were  all  of 
the  same  family  of  Valois.  They  were:  Fran- 
c,ois  I,  his  son  Henri  II,  and  the  sons  of  Henri 
II,  three  of  whom,  Henri  III,  Francois  II, 
Charles  IX,  were  kings  like  their  father  and 
grandfather. 

The  conflict  which  occupied  the  military  exist- 
ence of  Francois  I,  his  long  struggle  against 
Charles  V,  King  of  Austria  and  of  Spain,  sur- 


MODERN  TIMES 


87 


named  Charles-Quint,  was  in  reality  a  secondary 
matter.  The  story  of  the  exploits  of  Francois  I 
are  varied  and  brilliant:  defeated  by  his  enemy, 
he  was  made  prisoner  and  kept  in  close  confine- 
ment for  a  year  at  Madrid,  the  capital  of  Spain. 
Finally,  having  signed  an  ignominious  treaty,  he 
was  given  his  liberty.  No  sooner  had  he  set 


The  vast   Renaissance  Castle  of  Chambord,   as  it  stands  to-day, 
near    Tours.     It    was    built    by    Francois    Ier. 

foot  in  France  than  he  again  rallied  around  him 
his  faithful  troops.  After  a  first  great  victory, 
he  was  vanquished  and,  in  1547,  he  died.  Thus 
the  pages  of  history,  which  speak  only  of  the 
diplomatic  and  military  service  rendered  by 
Frangois  I  to  his  country,  are  more  or  less 
meager. 

The  glory  which  surrounds  his  name  results 


88      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

from  his  understanding  not  of  war  but  of  the 
arts  which  could  embellish  the  peaceful  history 
of  the  French. 

The  inspiration  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  been 
spiritual.     In  the  turmoil  of  incessant  wars,  men 


The  Castle  of  Chenonceaux,  begun  in   1515,  partly  in  gothic, 
partly   in    Renaissance    style. 

had  found  time  to  lift  up  their  hearts,  to  go  on 
pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  Land,  to  found  the  Or- 
der of  Chivalry.  After  the  action  and  reaction 
of  battle  and  of  prayer,  it  was  only  natural  that 
the  French,  with  their  perfect  equilibrium, 
should  now  yearn  for  intellectual  glory. 

During  the  wars  which  Frangois  I  fought  in 
Italy,  he  was  amazed  at  the  splendid  pictures 


MODERN  TIMES  89 

and  architecture  with  which  that  country  is  filled. 
On  his  return  to  France  he  summoned  to  his 
court  some  of  the  great  Italian  painters.  They 
decorated  the  palace  of  Fontainebleau  with  fres- 
coes, which  are  still  in  perfect  preservation. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Renaissance,  or 
the  rebirth  of  art,  in  France. 

The  gifted  French  sculptors  of  this  time  were 
Germain  Pilon  and  Jean  Goujon,  whose  Fon- 
taine des  Innocents  in  Paris,  and  whose  beautiful 
decorations  in  the  Palace  of  the  Louvre  are  un- 
surpassed masterpieces. 

With  the  same  love  of  literature  as  of  art, 
Francois  I  founded  the  College  de  France, 
which,  with  the  Sorbonne,  to-day  remains  one  of 
the  greatest  universities  in  the  world. 

The  celebrated  writers  of  the  Renaissance  in 
France  were  Rabelais,  who  satirized  the  human 
side  of  life;  Montaigne,  who  analyzed  with  deli- 
cacy the  moral  phases  of  existence;  Ronsard,  the 
most  tender  poet  who  ever  sung  of  love  and 
war,  and  Calvin,  the  first  great  French  Protes- 
tant. When  Luther  had  made  the  break,  known 
as  the  Reformation,  between  Catholics  and  Re- 
formists, Calvin  became  the  leader  of  the  Protes- 
tant party. 

The  influence  of  Frangois  I  was  from  every 
point  of  view  humanizing,  civilizing.  The  long 
wars  against  the  nobles  had  come  to  an  end  in 
the  days  of  Louis  XI.  The  King  became  the 
center  of  the  Government,  and  his  Court  was  the 


go     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

place  around  which,  subservient  to  their  Master, 
the  warring  lords  of  old  then  rallied. 

The  Court  of  France  was  at  that  time  the 
most  powerful  and  the  most  important  of  Eu- 
rope. The  castles,  which  for  centuries  had  been 
fortresses  where  the  nobles  defended  themselves, 
became  the  pleasant  habitations  of  a  more  peace- 
loving  society. 

Francois  I,  because  of  his  interest  in  the  arts, 
was  surnamed  "the  father  of  letters."  His  son, 
Henri  II,  continued  the  wars  already  begun 
against  Charles-Quint. 

As  in  the  present  war,  the  menace  for  France 
came  from  the  east.  Charles-Quint  laid  siege 
to  the  three  strongholds  on  the  eastern  frontier: 
Metz,  Toul  and  Verdun.  His  failure  to  occupy 
them  rapidly  in  1553  was  similar  to  that  of  the 
Kronprinz  before  Verdun  in  1916. 

In  1558,  the  English  also  were  driven  from 
Calais,  which  they  had  held  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years.  Peace  was  signed  with  Italy  the 
following  year. 

THE  MASSACRE  OF  SAINT-BARTHELEMY 

Henri  II  had  married  an  Italian,  Catherine 
de  Medicis.  Her  three  sons  were  to  reign  as 
Kings  of  France,  at  a  time  when  the  country  was 
divided  in  its  religious  opinions.  Calvin,  the 
great  French  Protestant,  had  begun  to  preach 
the  new  belief  to  the  people  of  France. 


MODERN  TIMES  91 

Catherine  de  Medicis,  deeply  Catholic  in  spirit, 
and  fearing  perhaps  the  political  influence  of  the 
Protestants,  resorted  to  every  intrigue  in  order 
to  obtain  full  power  during  the  reign  of  her  sons, 
Francois  II  and  Charles  IX.  These  princes, 
young  and  with  no  force  of  character,  are  remem- 
bered for  the  horrible  religious  wars,  carried  on, 
one  might  say,  under  their  very  windows. 

In  1572,  on  the  night  of  Saint-Barthelemy, 
Charles  IX  gave  the  signal,  from  the  balcony  of 
the  Louvre,  for  the  massacre  of  the  Protestants. 
Even  women  and  children  were  assassinated  in 
the  streets.  This  horrible  slaughter  of  the  inno- 
cent was  plotted  and  combined  by  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  the  Queen  Mother,  who  was  an  Italian 
by  birth.  Overwhelmed  by  remorse,  Charles 
IX  died  two  years  later. 

So  this  family,  which  had  degenerated  from 
the  admirable  Francois  I  to  the  almost  abject 
Henri  III,  was  to  disappear  with  the  last  son  of 
Catherine  de  Medicis  and  Henri  II.  Henri 
III  was  frivolous;  he  was  preoccupied  only  about 
his  pleasures  and  his  dress.  He  died  without 
leaving  any  heirs. 

HENRI  iv,  OR  "HENRI  OF  NAVARRE" 

The  throne  thus  unexpectedly  passed  into  the 
hands  of  one  of  the  most  interesting  Kings  of 
France:  Henri  IV,  or  Henri  of  Navarre. 
Brought  up  almost  as  a  peasant,  he  used  to  run 


92      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


about  barefoot  when  he  was  a  child,  wearing 
rough  clothes,  eating  coarse  food,  and  playing 
with  the  children  of  the  poor. 

Henri  IV  was  a  Protestant.  It  is  easy  to 
understand  that,  after  the  religious  wars  which 
had  shaken  France  at  its  base,  the  Catholic  Party 
was  not  ready  to  recognize  this  heretic  King. 


Henri  IV,  King  of  France. 


Catherine  de  Medicis. 


The  league  of  Catholics  were  so  opposed  to 
Henri  of  Navarre,  or  Henri  IV,  that  they  made 
him  fight  for  the  kingdom  which  he  had  inherited 
from  his  cousin,  Henri  III. 

Though  victorious,  he  did  not  wish  to  pro- 
long the  dissensions  that  were  destroying  the 
unity  of  the  country.  So  he  joined  the  Catholic 
faith,  to  which  the  majority  of  his  subjects  be- 
longed. Immediately,  the  cities  which  had  been 
closed  to  him,  opened  their  doors. 

The  lesson  which   Henri   IV  seems  to  have 


MODERN  TIMES  93 


Beginning  1638-40       1637       1630      Dandy  Peasants       Gentleman. 

ofi6thcent.  1670  1675-76 

learned  in  this  bitter  experience  of  religious  con- 
flict is  one  of  tolerance.  In  1598,  by  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  he  accorded  perfect  liberty  to  the 
Protestants  in  the  exercise  of  their  religion. 
This  resolution  ended  the  religious  wars. 

Henri  IV  devoted  the  rest  of  his  life  to  the 
peaceful  organization  of  his  country.  He  en- 
couraged Champlain  to  colonize  Canada. 
Aided  by  a  great  statesman,  Sully,  he  developed 
the  industries,  the  commerce,  and  the  agriculture 
of  France.  He  protected  the  peasants  and 
founded  homes  for  the  poor  and  hospitals  for 
the  sick.  There  was  something  great,  human 
and  captivating  about  the  personality  of  Henri 
IV.  When,  in  1610,  he  was  assassinated  by  a 
miserable  lunatic,  all  France  wept  for  this  King, 
who  had  shown  a  great  heart,  a  love  of  his 
country  and  people,  a  simplicity  and  cheerful- 
ness of  character  which  had  endeared  him  to  all. 

The  conception  held  by  this  man  of  genius 
concerning  foreign  politics  resembled  in  principle 


94     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

President  Wilson's  plan  for  a  League  of  Nations. 
Henri  IV  proposed  a  grand  uniting  of  Europe 
in  what  he  called  the  "Christian  Republic."  All 
conflicts  were  to  be  referred  to  a  supreme  coun- 
cil, composed  of  delegates  from  every  State. 

It  is  three  hundred  years  since  Henri  of 
Navarre  dreamed  this  dream.  The  unity  of 
France  was  at  that  time  menaced  not  only  politi- 
cally from  without,  but  it  was  threatened  by 
religious  strife  from  within.  Indeed  the  last  of 
the  rebellious  nobles  did  not  surrender  for  many 
years,  and  the  principles  of  democracy  were  not 
to  triumph,  even  in  theory,  until  the  Revolution 
of  1789. 

RICHELIEU 

The  work  of  organization  which  Henri  IV, 
aided  by  Sully,  had  accomplished,  was  not  to  be 
continued.  His  heir,  Louis  XIII,  was  but  a 
child  when  his  father  was  assassinated.  Imme- 
diately he  became  a  prey  to  the  intrigues  of  an 
Italian  mother:  Marie  de  Medicis,  and  of  her 
dependents.  They  soon  squandered  the  econo- 
mies of  Sully.  Yet,  as  always  happened  in 
France,  this  new  crisis,  which  resulted  in  the 
uprising  of  the  nobles,  aroused  the  genius  of  one 
of  the  greatest  statesmen  which  France  has 
known:  Richelieu.  During  the  entire  reign  of 
Louis  XIII,  Richelieu  was  the  power  behind  the 
throne.  His  policy  was  to  combat  the  enemies 
who  menaced  or  retarded  the  unity  of  France. 


MODERN  TIMES 


95 


He  determined  to  ruin  the  Protestant  party,  to 
crush  the  nobles,  and  to  abolish  the  influence  of 
Austria. 

To  this  end,  he  began  by  seizing  La  Rochelle, 
which   was   the   stronghold   of  the   Protestants. 


Richelieu. 

He  left  them  free  to  keep  their  faith,  but  forced 
them  to  surrender  politically  to  his  superior 
force.  The  nobles  he  treated  with  a  high  hand : 
those  who  disobeyed  him  were  cast  into  prison, 
or  put  to  death  on  the  scaffold. 

Richelieu  died  in  1642,  before  he  had  ended 
the  war  which  he  undertook  against  the  Aus- 


96     A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

trians.  To  persecute  those  whose  ideals  dis- 
pleased him  was  not  his  sole  occupation.  He 
was  also  a  devoted  patron  of  the  arts;  he 
founded  the  French  Academy,  an  intellectual  and 
literary  body  of  forty  men  who  to-day  still  have 
more  prestige  than  any  similar  group  throughout 


Part   of   the    Palace   of    Louvre,    the    most    important    public    building 
in    Paris.     It    served    as    royal    residence    for    400    years. 

the  world.  The  members  are  elected  for  life  by 
the  suffrage  of  the  colleagues.  They  are 
known  as  the  "Forty  Immortals." 


LOUIS  XIV 


In  1643  Louis  XIV  came  to  the  throne.     He 
was  at  that  time  only  five  years  old,  so  that  the 


MODERN  TIMES 


97 


direction  of  the  Government  was  assumed  by 
his  mother,  the  regent,  and  by  an  Italian  states- 
man, Mazarin,  who  rendered  many  services  to 
France.  He  had  been  designated  for  this  pur- 


Louis   XIV,    by    Rigaud. 

pose  by  Richelieu,  who  had  him  appointed  a  Car- 
dinal. As  Cardinal-Minister,  Mazarin  directed 
successful  'wars  against  Austria  and  Spain  who 
were  at  that  time  the  arch-enemies  of  France. 
These  were  ended  with  the  signing  of  a  peace 
favorable  to  France.  The  two  military  heroes 
of  the  day  were  Conde  and  Turenne.  But 


98      A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

Mazarin  was  not  liked  by  the  people,  and  a  civil 
war,  called  the  Fronde,  broke  out  in  Paris. 

Mazarin  was  stronger  than  those  who  op- 
posed him.  The  most  gifted  military  General, 
the  Prince  of  Conde,  a  Frondeur,  rather  than 
yield  to  Mazarin,  whom  he  hated,  passed  over 
to  the  Spanish  and  led  an  army  against  France. 


The  Right  wing  of  the  Palace  of  Versailles,  seen  from  the  court- 
yard, built  by  Louis  XIV    (1661-1710). 

Near  Dunkirk,  in  1658,  he  was  defeated  by  the 
other  great  'General  of  the  hour,  Turenne. 

Spain  asked  for  peace  and  again  a  treaty  fa- 
vorable to  France  was  concluded. 

The  final  acquisitions  of  territory  restored  to 
France  by  these  two  treaties,  signed  'toward  the 
middle  of  the  iyth  century,  completed  the  unity 
of  the  kingdom  for  which  the  French  had  been 
struggling  for  so  many  centuries,  for  over  a  thou- 
sand years  in  fact. 


MODERN  TIMES 


99 


In  1 66 1,  at  the  death  of  Cardinal  Mazarin, 
Louis  XIV  became  the  absolute  monarch  of 
France,  which  was  the  most  powerful  State  in 
Europe. 

There  was  scarcely  a  time,  however,  during 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  when  he  was  not  at  war 
with  some  power:  his  first  campaign  was  under- 


The  Left  wing  of  the  Palace  of  Versailles  seen  from  the  court- 
yard.    About   10,000  people  could  dwell  in  this  royal  residence. 

taken  in  1668  against  the  Spanish,  who  were 
forced  to  give  up  Flanders  to  the  French.  The 
second  war,  which  lasted  for  six  years  (1672- 
1678),  was  fought  by  most  of  the  powers  of 
Europe — England,  Spain  and  Germany — against 
France,  whose  army  triumphed  on  land  as  did 
her  fleet  »on  sea.  The  important  province  of 
Franche-Comte  was  added  to  the  royal  domains. 
In  1688  another  war  broke  out.  Louis  XIV 
revoked  the  Edict  of  Nantes  (1685)  whereby 


ioo    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


Henri  IV  had  permitted  the  Protestants  to  freely 
practice  their  religion.  The  Protestant  Hugue- 
nots left  France  in  great  numbers,  and  the  war 
which  resulted  lasted  nine  years.  The  French 
were  defeated  at  last  on  the  sea,  and  the  only 
advantage  they  obtained  on  land  was  the  at- 
tribution, when  peace  was  signed,  of  the  city  of 
Strasburg. 


The    Prince    of   Conde. 


Turenne. 


Still  another  war  was  undertaken  in  1701. 
The  King  of  England,  William  III,  formed  an 
alliance  with  Holland,  Prussia,  Austria,  Portu- 
gal, Sweden  and  Savoy.  France's  only  ally  was 
Bavaria,  and  this  struggle  dragged  on  for  twelve 
years.  Finally,  in  1713,  a  peace  was  signed,  dis- 
astrous to  the  French. 

The  following  year  Louis  XIV  died  at  Ver- 
sailles. He  had  been  for  seventy-two  years  on 
the  throne  of  France  and  he  left  the  kingdom, 
in  spite  of  the  depletion  caused  by  incessant  wars. 


MODERN  TIMES 


101 


greater  from  every  point  of  view  than  when  he 
came  into  power. 


Pierre    Corneille. 


The  constant  campaigns  on  land  and  sea  called 
forth  the  military  and  naval  genius  of  many 
ardent  patriots.  Turenne,  Conde,  Villars,  Lux- 
embourg, the  names  of  these  generals  and  of  the 


La    Fontaine. 


Moliere. 


admirals   Duquesne,  Tourville,  and  the  corsair 
Jean  Bart,  are  renowned  in  history. 


102    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

Yet  it  is  not  the  exploits  of  the  army  during  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV  which  have  remained  of  last- 
ing interest  to  humanity.  It  is  the  progress  made 
in  the  arts,  in  literature,  in  architecture,  in  the 
industrial  arts  and  in  the  forms  of  social  inter- 
course. To  be  sure,  bath-tubs  were  still  rare  in 
those  days  and  steam  heat  and  modern  plumbing 
had  not  been  invented.  Civilization,  however, 
has  not  surpassed  the  perfection  then  reached  in 
cooking,  in  house-furnishing,  in  moral  refinement, 
in  the  entertainment  of  friends,  in  worldly  con- 
duct, in  politeness  and  courtesy,  in  the  grace  of 
all  human  relations.  The  art  of  living,  as  it  was 
practiced  at  the  Court  of  Louis  XIV,  in  his  palace 
at  Versailles,  remains  an  example  to  the  rest  of 
the  world.  Around  this  imposing  King  were 
gathered  the  great  men  of  France:  the  immortal 
playwrights  whose  dramas  and  comedies  were 
given  at  the  royal  palace  before  being  offered  to 
the  public,  were  Corneille,  Racine  and  Moliere. 

La  Fontaine  wrote  at  this  time  the  fables 
which  have  made  him  famous.  The  prose  authors 
were  Pascal,  Bossuet,  Fenelon,  each  of  whom 
has  made  a  characteristic  mark  in  French  letters. 

The  architects  and  landscape  gardeners,  who 
embellished  the  palace  of  the  Louvre  and  de- 
signed the  palace  and  gardens  of  Versailles  and 
the  Hotel  des  Invalides  in  Paris,  were  Perrault, 
Mansart  and  Le  Notre. 

The   painters    and   sculptors   who   left   great 


MODERN  TIMES  103 


works  were  Le  Brun,  Poussin,  Puget,  Largilliere, 
Rigaud,  Van  der  Meulen. 

The  luxury  with  which  Louis  XIV  surrounded 
himself,  while  it  was  unscrupulous,  was  never 
sordid.  An  anecdote  will  give  an  idea  of  what 
one  might  call  the  distinguished  frivolity  of  these 
times.  The  Prince  of  Conti,  wishing  to  show  his 
admiration  for  some  beautiful  lady  of  the  court, 
ordered  a  present  for  her.  Knowing  that  she 
owned  a  canary  of  which  she  was  particularly 
fond,  he  asked  some  well-known  painter  to  make 
a  portrait  of  this  favorite  bird,  in  a  miniature 
small  enough  to  be  worn  as  a  ring.  The  setting 
was  a  diamond  cut  in  such  a  way  that  it  covered 
the  miniature  without  concealing  it.  This  stone, 
because  of  its  size,  shape  and  quality,  cost  the 
enormous  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  fair  lady,  of  course,  found  it  too  precious 
a  gift  to  accept.  She  returned  it  to  her  extrava- 
gant admirer.  Thereupon  the  Prince  of  Conti 
had  the  gem  ground  to  powder. 

He  wrote  a  despairing  love-letter  to  his  ador- 
able friend  and  dried  the  ink  with  diamond  dust! 

When  Louis  XIV  came  to  be  absolute  monarch 
of  France,  he  made  a  celebrated  declaration: 
"L'Etat,  c'est  mot,"  he  said;  "I  am  the  State." 
He  had  forgotten  the  two  important  forces  which 
had  been  at  work  in  France  since  the  Middle 
Ages:  one,  the  association  of  the  people  in  the 
"commons"  for  the  defense  of  their  rights;  the 
other,  the  excellent  schools  and  universities  open 


104    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


Lady        1729         1730-40      Lady        Abby  Dandy          Lady  and 

1702  Louis  XV  1779-80       servant  1785 

to  all  who  cared  to  perfect  their  education.  This 
brilliant  and  tyrannical  king  had  no  thought  what- 
ever for  the  poor,  for  those  who  worked  in  pov- 
erty and  obscurity.  But  his  indifference  could  not 
undo  the  progress  which  for  centuries  had  been 
slowly  emancipating  the  people.  Indeed,  his 
unscrupulous  extravagance  and  his  ferocious 
egoism  undoubtedly  precipitated  the  revolution 
which  was  to  end  disastrously  for  the  monarchy. 

At  his  death,  in  1715,  Louis  XIV  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  great»grandson,  Louis  XV.  Like 
his  illustrious  ancestor,  he  was  a  child  of  five 
when  he  came  to  the  throne. 

Married  to  the  daughter  of  a  former  King  of 
Poland,  Louis  XV  attempted  to  succeed  his  fa- 
ther-in-law, Stanislas,  on  the  throne  of  that  coun- 
try. This  pretension  aroused  the  ire  of  Austria 
and  resulted  in  another  war,  in  which  England 
and  Holland  were  once  more  joined.  A  treaty  of 
peace  favorable  to  every  nation  but  France  had 
no  sooner  been  signed,  in  1738,  than  a  new  con- 


MODERN  TIMES  105 


flict  broke  out.  England,  allied  with  Prussia, 
declared  war  against  France  and  Austria,  a  war 
which  lasted  seven  years  and  which  is  known  as 
"The  Seven  Years'  War."  The  Prussian  armies 
were  commanded  by  Frederick  the  Great.  The 
French  suffered  defeat  on  sea  and  on  land.  In 
this  long  and  disastrous  campaign  they  lost  some 
of  their  most  important  colonies  and  the  better 
part  of  their  fleet. 

When  Louis  XV  first  came  to  the  throne  he 
was  called  "the  beautiful."  All  the  hopes  cen- 
tered in  him  met  with  deception.  His  excessive 
selfishness  amounted  to  a  vice.  His  desire  for 
pleasure  and  diversion,  whatever  the  cost,  domi- 
nated his  preoccupations  for  his  country.  When 
at  last,  in  1774,  he  died  of  small-pox  at  Versailles, 
there  was  general  rejoicing. 

THE  PHILOSOPHERS 

Little  by  little  the  power  had  for  centuries  been 
accumulating  in  the  hands  of  the  monarch;  now 
it  had  become  so  much  greater  that  the  King  him- 
self felt  that  it  was  soon  to  escape  him.  The 
spirit  of  independence,  the  love  of  learning  and 
of  truth  among  the  people  were  to  make  them- 
selves felt.  In  the  days  of  Louis  XV  and  of 
Louis  XVI  the  dominating  influence  was  not  that 
of  the  kings;  it  was  the  philosophers,  the  learned 
men,  who  were  listened  to  with  conviction;  the 
French  thinkers  of  the  eighteenth  century  formu- 


io6    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

lated  the  program  of  human  liberty  which  the 
masses  were  to  execute  in  the  unfortunately  vio- 
lent form  of  a  revolution. 

The  writers  of  genius  during  the  reign  of 
Louis  XV  were  Voltaire,  who  ridiculed  all  that 
was  not  human;  Rousseau,  who,  in  a  most  arti- 
ficial society,  made  nature  fashionable;  Montes- 


J.-J.    Rousseau.  Voltaire,    statue    by    Houdon. 

quieu,  who  wrote  about  foreign  lands  and  theo- 
rized about  modern  law;  Buff  on,  whose  love  of 
animals  has  made  him  celebrated.  All  of  these 
men  were  opposed  to  the  monarchical  system, 
whereby  the  King,  the  nobility  and  the  clergy 
•claimed  extravagant  privileges  merely  through 
right  of  birth. 

Politeness  is  such  an  essential  of  French  life 
and  of  the  French  mind,  that  these  independent 
thinkers  did  not  openly  attack  the  King  and  his 


MODERN  TIMES 


107 


somewhat  dissolute  courtiers.  They  wrote  satires 
with  the  most  delicate  wit,  they  made  fun  of  all 
that  was  not  fraternal  and  democratic  in  the  cus- 
toms of  the  day. 

Science  had  also  begun  to  be  discussed:  Lavois- 
ier was  the  first  great  chemist;  Montgolfier  in- 
vented the  balloon.  But  even  in  these  more  arid 
branches  of  knowledge  the  French  never  con- 


Montesquieu. 


Lavoisier. 


sidered  study  the  end  and  object  of  existence; 
they  considered  learning  as  a  means  of  making 
life  itself  better  and  more  just  for  all. 

So  the  great  lesson  became  apparent,  that  it 
was  not  Kings  with  their  vast  fortunes  and  their 
absolute  power,  presumably  bestowed  upon  them 
by  divine  right,  who  were  to  remain  the  inevitable 
masters.  As  long  as  the  monarch  served  the  in- 
terests of  the  nation  by  seeking  to  unite  unde'r  a 
single  government  the  various  warring  elements 
which  threatened  to  divide  the  land,  so  long  was 


io8    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

the  King  a  useful  representative  of  popular  jus- 
tice. But,  when  the  unity  of  France  was  estab- 
lished and  when,  his  work  accomplished,  the  King 
had,  so  to  speak,  become  a  man  of  leisure,  who 
sought  only  his  own  pleasure,  then  he  could  no 
longer  hold  the  foremost  place  in  the  thoughts 
or  in  the  feelings  of  his  people.  The  breach 
which  had  widened  for  centuries  between  the  sov- 
ereign and  his  subjects  was  filled  now  by  the  con- 
structive ideas  of  the  great  thinkers,  whose  minds 
and  hearts,  brilliant  and  human,  made  clear  and 
possible  the  way  to  emancipation. 

Louis  XVI,  and  his  Austrian  wife,  Marie- 
Antoinette,  who  succeeded  Louis  XV,  were  more 
and  more  indifferent  to  the  poignant  truths  of  ex- 
istence; they  felt  more  and  more  lightly  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  their  heavy  charge.  The  frivol- 
ity of  the  Court  became  scandalous;  the  taxes 
imposed  upon  the  middle  and  lower  classes  were 
overwhelming.  The  cost  of  the  King's  Guard, 
composed  of  9,050  men,  amounted  to  almost 
8,000,000  fr.  a  year.  There  were  1857  horses 
and  217  carriages  in  the  stables.  To  look  after 
them  1458  persons  were  employed  whose  liveries 
alone  cost  500,000  fr.,  bringing  the  total  for  rid- 
ing and  driving  to  over  six  million  francs.  Fur- 
ther astounding  items  are:  3,660,491  fr.  for  the 
table  expenses,  300,000  fr.  for  wines,  and  an 
extra  million  a  year  for  fish  and  game ! 


V.  — THE  REVOLUTION 

CAUSES  AND  OUTBREAK 

Men  whose  minds  are  free  can  never  be  made 
the  slaves  of  any  one.  Moreover,  the  French 
themselves- were  the  first  to  use  the  motto:  "Ridi- 
cule kills."  The  principles  of  the  Court  were  dis- 


Benjamin  Franklin. 

solute;  what  reason  remained  for  respecting  the 
King  and  his  courtiers?  The  terrible  reaction 
which,  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI,  spread  like 
wild-fire  over  France,  ended  in  the  bloodiest  of 
revolutions.  Before  the  first  acts  of  violence 
were  accomplished  there  was  a  movement  for 
freedom  in  France,  which  directly  affected  the 
United  States. 

109 


i  io   A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


While  Louis  XVI  and  Marie-Antoinette  were 
still  at  the  Court  of  Versailles,  they  were  visited 
by  the  incomparable  Benjamin  Franklin  and  by 
other  statesmen,  Silas  Deane,  John  Jay,  etc.,  who 
roused  the  interest  of  France  in  the  cause  of 
American  liberty.  The  greatest  impulse  was  given 
at  this  time  to  our  struggling  Yankee  armies  by 
the  young  Marquis  de  Lafayette.  He  was  sup- 


Rochambeau. 


Lafayette. 


ping  at  Metz  with  the  brother  of  the  King  of 
England,  when  he  heard  of  the  revolt  of  the 
American  colonies.  His  decision  was  prompt:  a 
new  people  were  fighting  for  freedom,  he  wished 
to  go  at  once  to  their  aid.  As  soon  as  possible,  al- 
though he  was  only  nineteen,  already  married,  a 
father,  and  entrusted  with  an  important  office  at 
Court,  he  left  France,  setting  sail  for  America 
with  troops  and  supplies.  This  was  only  a  be- 
ginning of  the  vast  assistance  which  was  given  to 


LAFAYETTE  ei   WASHINGTON 


Lafayette   and   Washington. 
This  monument  stands  on  the  Place  des  fitats-Unis,  in  Paris. 


Ill 


ii2    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

Washington  by  the  French,  by  Rochambeau  on 
land,  by  Grasse  at  sea,  and  which  actually  de- 
termined the  final  victory  over  the  English  at 
Yorktown. 

The  group  of  French  noblemen  who  fought  in 
the  war  of  Independence  were  ably  fitted,  on  their 
return  to  France,  to  propagate  ideas  of  liberty 
and  freedom. 

It  was  too  late  to  influence  the  King — three 
generations  too  late.  He  was  going  to  his  ruin, 
hastened  thither  by  the  influence  of  the  Queen 
Marie-Antoinette,  an  Austrian,  whose  faith  in 
God  and  the  royal  dynasty  were  the  same.  When 
at  last  the  Court,  overwhelmed  with  debts,  had 
so  far  crushed  the  people  with  taxes  that  they  had 
no  bread  to  eat,  Marie-Antoinette  cried  out:  "If 
they  have  no  bread,  let  them  eat  cake!"  The 
tragic  death  of  Marie-Antoinette  on  the  scaffold 
and  her  dignity  in  her  extreme  suffering  and  hu- 
miliation have  more  than  atoned  for  her  pitiful 
weaknesses. 

At  last,  in  1789,  Louis  XVI,  beginning  dimly 
to  understand  the  folly  of  his  egoism  and  to  fear 
for  his  life,  assembled  the  States  General  (Etats- 
Generaux).  This  body  of  men,  which  included 
the  nobles,  the  clergy  and  the  bourgeois,  had,  as 
we  have  seen,  been  convoked  for  the  first  time 
five  hundred  years  before,  in  the  days  of  Philippe 
IV,  surnamed  "the  Beautiful."  As  the  King  had 
assumed  more  and  more  power,  the  States  Gen- 
eral had  fallen  into  desuetude.  It  was  now  to  be 


THE  RESOLUTION 


found  by  Louis  XVI  that  the  time  for  union 
among  his  subjects  had  passed.  On  May  5th, 
1789,  the  States  General  was  called  at  Versailles, 
only  to  be  immediately  adjourned.  The  nobles 
and  clergy  refused  to  sit  with  the  bourgeois,  or 
members  of  the  middle  class. 

The  middle  class  thereupon   refused  further 
obedience  to  the  King.     They  assembled  in  a 


Mirabeau. 

building  of  Versailles  called  the  "Jeu  de  Paume" ; 
there,  under  the  new  name  of  the  Constituant  As- 
sembly, they  swore  that  they  would  not  separate 
until  they  had  given  France  a  Constitution.  They 
proclaimed  the  sovereignty  of  the  Nation  and 
abolished  the  privileges  of  the  nobility,  they  de- 
clared that  all  Frenchmen  were  equal  in  the  eyes 
of  the  law,  that  every  man  must  have  his  chance 
to  win  all  the  honors  he  merited  to  the  full  ex- 


ii4    A  P'OPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

tent  of  his  personal  ability;  they  opened  to  all 
certain  professions  which  had  been  reserved  for 
the  nobles;  they  declared  that  work  of  every  kind, 
the  exercise  of  all  industries,  the  holding  of  po- 
litical opinions  and  the  practice  of  religious  be- 
liefs should  be  free. 

The  King  and  the  Court  were  in  violent  oppo- 
sition to  these  natural   adversaries.     The  final 


In  the  hall  of  the  Jeu  de  Paume  at  Versailles  the  deputies  swear 
to    give    France    a    Constitution    and    liberty. 

clash  came  on  July  14,  1789,  when  the  people  of 
Paris  in  a  general  uprising  seized  the  Bastille,  a 
vast  prison  where,  since  the  Middle  Ages,  all  po- 
litical prisoners  had  been  incarcerated  by  the 
Kings,  sometimes  for  long  years,  with  no  other 
condemnation  than  the  royal  displeasure  which 
they  had  incurred.  The  Bastille  had  been  mock- 
ingly called  by  the  people:  "The  King's  Closet." 
The  following  year,  on  July  14,  the  anniver- 
sary of  the  seizing  of  the  Bastille  was  celebrated, 
as  it  is  now  every  year,  by  the  French  people. 


THE  REVOLUTION  115 

They  called  this  holiday  "Federation  Day,"  as  it 
symbolized  for  them  the  union  of  all  the  loyal 
French. 

A  National  Guard  was  established  in  the  vari- 
ous cities  throughout  France,  and  the  former 
white  flag  of  the  royal  party  was  replaced  by  the 
red,  white  and  blue  flag  which  to-day  is  the  flag 
of  the  French  Republic. 


The  taking  of  the  Bastille,  on  July  14,  1789,  which  date  commemorates 
the  independence  of  the  French  people. 

The  King,  perceiving  that  he  had  no  further 
chance  of  dominating  the  people,  and  fearing  for 
his  life,  attempted  to  escape.  He  was  captured 
at  Varennes,  in  1791,  and  brought  back  to  Paris. 

This  sudden  strike  for  freedom,  this  popular 
outburst  against  autocracy  had  begun  to  disturb 
the  royal  neighbors  of  Louis  XVI.  All  the  Kings 
of  Europe  threatened  to  invade  France.  Many 
of  the  French  noblemen  had  escaped  to  other 
countries  and  they  now  enlisted  in  the  forces 
about  to  take  up  arms  against  liberty-loving 


n6    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

France.  '  Popular  indignation  against  the  nobles 
had  increased  as  this  fact  became  known. 

But  the  Constituant,  or,  as  it  was  now  called, 
the  Legislative  Assembly,  did  not  lose  courage 
nor  alter  its  determination.  On  the  contrary,  it 
took  the  offensive  and  declared  war  against  Prus- 
sia and  Austria. 

The  crowds  of  Paris  marched  in  a  body  to  the 
royal  palace  of  the  Louvre,  they  seized  the  King 
and  Queen,  their  children  and  the  various  mem- 
bers of  the  royal  family,  whom  they  led  in  cap- 
tivity to  the  Temple,  where  they  were  impris- 
oned. 

THE  CALL  TO  ARMS 

Meanwhile  an  army  of  volunteers  was  being 
formed.  On  all  the  public  places  and  squares, 
platforms  were  set  up,  draped  with  wreaths  and 
flags.  Throngs  of  young  men  and  old  came  to 
enlist  for  the  defense  of  the  Republic  against  the 
invading  armies  of  the  Coalition. 

The  first  battles  brought  defeat  to  the  Repub- 
licans, but,  in  1792,  the  French  troops  vanquished 
the  Prussians  at  Valmy.  The  national  hymn  of 
the  "Marseillaise"  had  just  been  composed  by 
Rouget  de  Lisle  in  Strasburg.  It  was  sung  as 
the  blood  of  the  French  was  shed  for  the  first 
time  in  the  cause  of  human  liberty. 

The  Legislative1  Assembly  was  replaced  by  the 
Convention,  which  formally  abolished  Royalty 


THE  REVOLUTION  117 

and  openly  proclaimed  the  Republic  on  January 
21,  1793.  This  body  of  men  also  condemned  the 
King  to  death.  Louis  XVI  was  beheaded  in 
Paris  on  the  guillotine  which  stood  on  the  Place 
de  la  Concorde  (formerly  the  Place  Louis  XV 
and  then  the  Place  de  la  Revolution). 


Rouget  de  Lisle  singing  the  first  time  the   Marseillaise 
in   Strasburg,   by   Pils. 

The  effect  of  this  extreme  act  was  twofold :  it 
roused  greater  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  kings 
of  Europe  and  in  France  it  provoked  civil  war. 
Brittany  and  Vendee,  two  provinces  of  France 
which  had  remained  loyal  to  the  monarchical 
regime,  took  up  arms.  Lyons,  Marseilles,  Tou- 
louse, Toulon,  rose  up  in  defense  of  the  Republic. 

To  cope  with  the  ever-increasing  confusion  in 
national  affairs,  the  Convention  formed  a  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety  (Comite  de  Salut  Public), 


n8    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

which  thenceforth  governed  France,  and  a  Revo- 
lutionary Tribunal,  which  tried  and  condemned 
all  conspirators.  Any  one  who  was  even  suspected 
of  hostility  to  the  Republic  was  sent  immediately 
to  the  scaffold.  The  Queen,  Marie-Antoinette, 
the  sister  of  Louis  XVI,  Madame  Elizabeth,  the 
Royalist  deputies  of  the  Gironde,  and  thousands 
of  others  perished,  one  after  the  other,  on  the 
guillotine.  Indeed,  during  the  period  which  is 
known  as  the  Reign  of  Terror  the  members  of 
the  Revolutionary  Tribunal  suspected  each  other: 
Robespierre  condemned  Danton,  whom  he  con- 
sidered too  moderate  in  his  opinions,  but  a  coali- 
tion of  the  liberals  with  a  part  of  the  extremists 
in  turn  condemned  Robespierre  to  death.  At 
least  ten  thousand  victims  perished  during  these 
terrible  months  of  the  Terror,  which  lasted  from 
June  2,  1793,  until  Robespierre  had  lost  his  head 
on  the  guillotine,  on  July  17,  1794. 

The  price  paid  for  liberty  was  dear  indeed. 
Many  innocent  women,  many  fine  men  had  been 
beheaded  simply  because,  by  birth,  they  belonged 
to  the  Royalist  party.  But  the  war  was  not  one 
against  persons,  it  was  in  opposition  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  autocracy.  In  the  days  of  the  kings  it 
had  been  established  that  the  heir  to  the  throne 
was  sovereign  by  Divine  Right.  His  coronation 
had  always  been  celebrated  with  the  solemnity  of 
a  Holy  Sacrament.  The  Archbishop  of  Rheims, 
as  the  representative  of  God,  had  placed  the 
crown  upon  the  head  of  the  king,  declaring:  "Re- 


The  Volunteers,  by  Rude.  This  high-relief  is  part  of  the  decoration 
of  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  de  1'fitoile  in  Paris.  An  engraving  of  it  is 
given  to  the  family  of  every  French  soldier  killed  during  the  war. 


119 


120    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

ceive  this  crown,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  last  kings  had 
proved  far  from  worthy  of  this  spiritual  heritage. 
It  was  inevitable  that  it  should  be  taken  from 
them,  and  that  the  mystery  which  had  surrounded 
all  these  ceremonies  should  be  dissipated.  The 
divine  right  of  every  man,  according  to  the  tenets 
of  the  new  republic,  was  not  that  he  should,  by 
the  mere  accident  of  birth,  be  a  king,  but  that 
he  should  feel  his  responsibilities  as  a  living,  hu- 
man conscience. 

Thus,  whatever  the  violence  and  even  the 
brutality  which  the  members  of  the  Convention 
had  been  obliged  to  show,  the  Republic  had  come 
to  life,  and  never  again,  in  spite  of  its  many  ad- 
ventures and  its  numerous  enemies,  was  it  to  be 
entirely  crushed. 

The  new  spirit  with  which  the  troops  were  now 
animated,  though  they  were  insufficiently  nour- 
ished and  clad  in  rags,  gave  them  victory  all  along 
the  line.  Commanded  by  Hoche,  Marceau,  and 
other  young  generals  of  extraordinary  military 
genius,  at  Wattignies  and  at  Fleurus  they  van- 
quished the  European  Powers  who  were  fighting 
against  them  and  who  were  forced  at  last,  in 
1795,  to  ask  for  peace. 

The  civil  war  also  had  been  brought  to  an  end 
by  General  Hoche,  who  gained  a  decisive  victory 
over  the  province  of  Vendee. 

Immediately  realizing  that  the  great  misfor- 
tunes of  any  country  are  brought  about  by  igno- 


Ill 

2  >  5 


THE  REVOLUTION 


121 


1790 


1794 


1797        "Incredible"       tst  Empire 
"Marvellous" 


1827 


ranee,  the  Convention  began  to  organize  primary 
schools,  high  schools  and  normal  schools.  Slav- 
ery was  abolished  in  the  French  colonies,  a  sys- 
tem of  weights  and  measures  was  established,  a 
project  was  elaborated  for  a  new  Civil  Code. 

It  became  necessary  to  give  the  government  a 
more  definite  form  than  that  which  had  sufficed 
during  the  Revolution.  In  1795  the  Convention 
was  therefore  replaced  by  a  Directory  composed 
of  five  members  who  were  aided  in  their  task  by 
two  assemblies:  the  Council  of  the  Ancients  and 
the  Council  of  the  Five  Hundred. 

But  the  troubles  of  France  were  not  over: 
England  and  Austria  had  not  wanted  to  make 
peace  with  her  after  the  Battle  of  Fleurus.  In 
such  days  of  unending  wars  it  was  natural  that 
a  military  genius  should  reveal  himself.  Almost 
as  soon  as  the  man  who  was  to  occupy  Europe 
with  his  exploits,  took  command  of  an  army,  his 
officers  declared:  "We  have  found  our  master." 


122    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


BONAPARTE 


Born  in  Corsica  in  1769,  Bonaparte  was  now 
twenty-six  years  old.  He  had  made  his  way  in 
the  world  by  his  natural  gifts.  At  the  age  of 
nine  he  had  won  a  prize  which  gave  him  the  right 


Bonaparte  crossing  the  Alps. 

to  continue  his  studies  at  a  military  school  in 
France.  At  fifteen  he  was  designated  for  the 
Military  School  of  Paris,  where  his  talents  at- 
tracted attention.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four, 
after  his  gallant  conduct  during  the  siege  which 
the  English  had  laid  before  Toulon,  he  had  been 
made  General.  Now  he  was  to  undertake  a  bril- 


THE  REVOLUTION 


123 


liant  campaign  against  the  Austrians,  who  were 
established  in  Italy.     He  beat  them  in  half  a 


The   i8th  of  Brumaire   (November  9,    1799)    after  the  painting 
by  Bouchot. 


dozen  places   and  finally,   in    1797,   peace  was 
signed. 

The  exercise  of  his  talents  in  the  defense  of 
France  had  given  Bonaparte  a  longing  for  con- 
quest. He  determined  to  occupy  Egypt  in  order 


124    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

to  keep  the  English  from  the  direct  route  to  In- 
dia, where  they  possessed  vast  colonies.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  great  Napoleonic  cam- 
paigns, the  long  struggle  between  Napoleon  and 
the  English,  which  was  to  end  for  him  in  disaster 
and  exile. 

Bonaparte,  for  he  was  still  Bonaparte,  and  not 
yet  Napoleon,  was  victorious  in  Egypt.  He  seized 
Cairo,  the  capital,  but  during  these  successful 
exploits  on  land,  the  French  fleet  was  destroyed 
and  the  European  Powers  were  once  more  form- 
ing a  Coalition,  in  which  England  wished  to  in- 
clude Russia,  Austria,  Turkey,  the  kingdoms  of 
Naples  and  Sardinia. 

Leaving  his  Egyptian  army  in  the  command  of 
Kleber,  Bonaparte  returned  to  Paris,  and  there, 
making  a  sudden  strike  for  power,  he  overthrew 
the  Directory  and,  on  November  9,  1799,  he  was 
named  First  Consul. 

The  Consulate  was  to  last  from  1799  to  1804. 
Continuing  the  wars  against  Austria,  Bonaparte 
finally,  after  further  victories  in  Italy,  obtained  a 
treaty  of  peace  whereby  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine  was  restored  to  the  French. 

In  Egypt,  however,  the  French  had  met  with 
reverses.  Kleber  had  been  assassinated  and  the 
disorganization  which  followed  was  serious. 
Finally  peace  was  signed  with  England  but 
France  was  forced  to  abandon  Egypt. 

Bonaparte,  in  1801,  concluded  an  agreement 
with  the  Pope.  This  Concordat,  as  it  was  called, 


THE  REVOLUTION  125 

specified  the  relations  between  the  Church  and 
the  State.  Many  of  the  members  of  the  Catholic 
Party  who  had  been  hostile  to  the  religious  policy 
of  the  Revolution,  were,  by  this  diplomatic  act, 
reconciled  to  the  First  Consul. 

The  personal  ambition  of  Bonaparte  was  in- 
domitable. The  obstacles  which  assailed  him  he 
converted  into  so  many  irresistible  reasons  for 
becoming  the  supreme  ruler. 

Already,  as  early  as  the  year  1800,  an  attempt 
upon  his  life  made  in  Paris,  at  the  moment  when 
he  was  on  his  way  to  the  Opera,  had  aroused  his 
suspicion  of  the  Republicans.  He  ordered  thirty 
of  them  deported,  without  any  previous  judgment 
or  trial. 

In  1802,  it  was  decreed  on  his  demand  that  the 
Consulate  should  be  made  a  life  office. 


VI.  — THE  XIX  CENTURY 


THE    FIRST    EMPIRE 


On  May  18,  1804,  Bonaparte,  under  the  title 
of  Napoleon  I,  was  proclaimed  Emperor  of  the 
French. 


Napoleon  I,  Emperor. 

Hostile  to  this  new  monarch,  the  English  fa- 
vored the  descendants  of  Louis  XVI.    War  short- 

126 


THE  XIX  CENTURY 


127 


ly  broke  out  between  England  and  France.  Na- 
poleon massed  his  armies  at  Boulogne,  prepared 
to  cross  the  channel  and  fight  the  English  on  their 
own  territory.  The  English,  alarmed,  induced 
Austria  and  Russia  to  join  with  them  against  the 


The   Coronation    of    Napoleon,    at    Notre-Dame   of    Paris, 
after   the   painting  by    David. 

French.  Napoleon,  advancing  through  Europe 
as  far  as  Vienna,  crushed  the  Austro-Russian 
armies  at  Austerlitz.  This  battle  was  fought  on 
December  2,  the  anniversary  of  the  day  when 
Napoleon  had  crowned  himself  at  the  Cathedral 
of  Notre-Dame  in  Paris.  His  soldiers,  who  fol- 
lowed him  to  the  end  with  the  intense,  passionate 
attachment  that  men  feel  for  such  a  military  lead- 


128    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

er,  had  promised  that  on  this  holiday  they  would 
bring  him  the  flags  of  the  enemy.  They  remem- 
bered the  astounding  gesture  of  Napoleon  at  the 
solemn  hour  of  his  Coronation.  Though  the 
Pope,  Pius  VII,  was  present,  as  the  "representa- 
tive of  God,"  Napoleon  took  the  crown  from 
him,  and  placed  it  upon  his  own  head.  Such  was 
the  custom  of  the  most  despotic  Czars.  After 
the  defeat  at  Austerlitz,  Austria  soon  had  enough 
of  this  conflict  with  Napoleon's  troops.  She 
signed  a  treaty  of  peace  in  1805. 

An  old  foe  of  France  but  a  new  foe  of  Na- 
poleon now  joined  the  ranks  of  his  enemies: 
Prussia.  Napoleon  beat  the  Germans  at  Jena  in 
1 806 ;  he  beat  the  Russians  at  Eylau  and  at  Fried- 
land.  Finally,  in  1807,  peace  was  once  more 
signed. 

Magnified  by  these  victories,  Napoleon's  ambi- 
tion now  bestowed  upon  the  various  members  of 
his  family  the  small  kingdoms  and  duchies  which 
his  armies  had  conquered.  In  1808  he  placed 
his  brother  on  the  throne  of  Spain.  The  result 
was  a  war  which  lasted  for  five  years  and  cost 
the  lives  of  many  of  Napoleon's  best  troops. 

While  Napoleon  was  in  Spain,  England 
planned  with  Austria  another  war  against  France. 
The  Austrians  were  beaten  at  Wagram  and,  in 
1809,  at  Vienna,  still  another  treaty  of  peace 
was  signed.  Before  his  first  campaign  in  Italy, 
Bonaparte  had  married  Josephine  de  Beauhar- 
nais.  It  was  now  imperative  that  Napoleon 


THE  XIX  CENTURY 


129 


should  have  a  son  and  heir.  The  marriage  with 
Josephine  was  childless.  For  no  other  reason 
she  was  divorced  in  1810  and  her  place  was  taken 
by  the  Archduchess  Marie-Louise,  the  daughter 
of  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  The  son  who  was 
born  of  this  union  never  came  to  the  throne. 

By  his  extraordinary  magnetic  personality  and 
because  of  his  astounding  military  genius,  Na- 


The  Battle  of  Austerlitz,   one  of  the  great  victories 
of  Napoleon's  armies. 

poleon  had  arrived  at  the  same  concentration  of 
power  which  had  brought  Louis  XIV  and  his  suc- 
cessors to  ruin.  His  will  recognized  no  obstacles. 
When  he  feared  that  the  young  Duke  of  Enghien, 
a  descendant  of  the  Bourbon  family,  was  plotting 
against  him,  although  he  was  only  Consul,  he  had 
this  rival  arrested  without  justification,  con- 
demned without  witnesses  and  shot  without  any 
proof  whatever  of  his  guilt.  When  his  ambitions 
impelled  him  to  begin  a  campaign  in  Spain,  he 
persisted  for  five  long  years  in  a  hopeless  under- 


130    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

taking  and  he  sacrificed  the  better  part  of  his 
army  to  gratify  his  vanity.  When  the  moment 
came  for  him  to  found  a  dynasty  he  repudiated 
his  childless  wife  in  order  to  marry  the  daughter 
of  an  Emperor. 

Judged  from  the  human  point  of  view,  Na- 
poleon's life  is  a  succession  of  projects  so  unlim- 
ited that  they  must  finally  meet  with  disappoint- 
ment. The  world  in  those  days,  as  in  these,  could 
not  be  conquered  by  mere  force.  The  violent 
movement  in  favor  of  individual  freedom  which 
the  French  people  had  made  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, though  it  had  seemingly  subsided,  was 
smoldering  only.  This  people  who  had  won  their 
liberty  at  the  cost  of  a  most  blood-thirsty  reign 
of  terror  would  not  accept  without  reflection  an 
Emperor,  constant  wars  against  all  Europe, 
many  of  them  disastrous  to  France,  and  an  Em- 
press in  the  place  of  the  Queen  whom  they  had 
beheaded. 

The  very  organizations  which  Napoleon  had 
planned  were  to  turn  against  him;  they  were  to 
help  the  people  to  establish  with  greater  stability 
the  Republic. 

It  was  Napoleon  who  elaborated  the  adminis- 
trative system  which  is  still  in  use  in  France.  The 
Courts  of  Justice  and  the  nomination  of  the 
judges,  some  of  them  for  life,  were  regulated. 
The  Bank  of  France  was  given  the  unique  right 
to  issue  bank-notes. 

The  revolutionary  committees  had  drawn  up 


THE  XIX  CENTURY 


131 


in  detail  various  legal  projects  which  Napoleon 
studied  and  grouped  in  the  form  of  a  Civil  Code, 
or  the  Code  Napoleon.  This  voluminous  work, 
inspired  by  the  spirit  of  the  Revolutionists,  was 
based  on  the  principle  of  respect  for  individual 
liberty  and  property,  of  equality  for  all,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  law.  The  Code  determined  the  so- 


The   Empress   Josephine, 

the   first   wife  of 
Napoleon  Bonaparte. 


The   Empress   Marie-Louise, 

second   wife   of 
Napoleon    Bonaparte. 


cial  status  of  each  person,  and  the  conditions 
necessary  to  him  for  the  enjoyment  of  civil  rights; 
it  made  the  registration  of  births,  marriages  and 
deaths  obligatory;  it  regulated  the  legal  constitu- 
tion of  the  family,  and  finally  it  determined  the 
disposition  of  worldly  belongings,  whether  by  the 
transfer  or  sale  of  property  during  life,  or  its 
bequeathal  after  death.  The  Code  Napoleon  is 
the  basis  of  French  social  existence  to-day. 

Napoleon  founded  the  Order  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor  as  a  recompense  for  those  who  serve  and 


132    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

honor  their  country.  He  organised  the  Comedie- 
Frangaise,  which  existed  already  as  a  classic  thea- 
ter, but  he  regulated  the  system  of  appointment, 
remuneration  and  pensioning  of  the  members  of 
this  illustrious  troop  of  actors.  He  established  a 
censorship  which  stifled  the  newspapers;  their 
popularity,  he  believed,  had  facilitated  the 
spreading  of  public  opinion  during  the  Revolu- 
tion. These  were  the  works  of  Napoleon's  peace- 
ful moments,  but  the  wars  had  not  yet  ended. 

Unable  to  settle  with  the  Czar  of  Russia  cer- 
tain discussions  which  he  found  had  dragged  on 
too  long  and  involved  too  many  of  his  interests, 
Napoleon,  with  an  army  of  500,000  men,  in- 
vaded Russia  on  June  24,  1812.  After  successive 
victories,  these  troops  entered  Moscow.  The  em- 
peror established  himself  in  the  Palace  of  the 
Russian  Czars.  But  the  Russians  preferred  to 
see  their  city  destroyed  rather  than  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemy:  Moscow  was  soon  in  flames  and 
Napoleon  was  forced  in  the  early  winter  to  begin 
a  retreat  which  proved  a  gigantic  disaster.  Al- 
most his  entire  army  perished  of  cold  and  misery. 

This  was  the  moment  for  the  enemies  of 
France  to  form  a  new  coalition. 

Abandoning  the  army  in  Russia,  which  was  re- 
duced from  500,000  to  40,000  men,  Napoleon 
hastened  to  Paris  and  set  out  upon  another  cam- 
paign against  Germany;  he  was  victorious  at 
Dresden,  but  he  lost  the  battle  of  Leipzig  in 
1813,  and  France  was  again  invaded.  Prussia, 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  133 

taking  the  lead,  persuaded  Sweden  to  join  with 
her.  Denmark  sided  with  France. 

France  had  now  been  fighting  almost  incessant- 
ly for  twenty  years.  Though  she  was  exhausted, 
she  mobilized  an  army  of  300,000  men,  who  were 
at  first  victorious,  in  1813.  Austria  proposed  to 
mediate,  but  Napoleon  refused  this  offer,  and  the 
Emperor  of  Austria,  though  his  daughter  was 
Empress  of  France,  joined  with  the  other  Powers 
against  Napoleon. 

A  second  great  battle  which  lasted  three  days, 
— October  16,  17,  18, — was  fought  at  Leipzig. 
More  than  100,000  men  met  their  death  in  this 
battle  which  was  called  the  battle  of  Nations. 
The  French  were  obliged  to  fall  back,  fighting  as 
they  retreated.  His  army  was  practically  wiped 
out.  Yet  such  was  the  prestige  of  France  that 
her  enemies  preferred  to  treat  with  her,  rather 
than  to  fight  her  on  her  own  soil. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Austrian  Empire  was 
charged  by  the  co-allied  powers  to  propose  peace. 
France,  according  to  this  treaty,  was  to  main- 
tain her  natural  frontiers,  the  Rhine,  the  Alps, 
and  the  Pyrenees.  Napoleon  refused  to  nego- 
tiate. Like  an  avalanche,  the  enemies  then  de- 
scended upon  France.  Closing  in  from  the  North 
and  the  South,  the  Prussians  had  soon  driven 
Napoleon's  brothers  from  the  thrones  of  Hol- 
land and  of  Spain,  where  he  had  placed  them. 
Murat,  King  of  Naples,  whom  Napoleon  had 
put  upon  the  throne  of  Naples,  which  was  then  a 


134    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

separate  kingdom,  betrayed  his  friend  and  his 
country;  in  order  to  save  his  own  position,  he 
passed  over  to  the  enemy. 

Denmark,  isolated,  was  forced  to  make  peace 
with  Russia  and  England.  Napoleon  was  left 
with  only  60,000  men  to  face  the  most  formidable 
coalition  which  had  ever  threatened  a  nation.  The 
enemies  were  pouring  into  France  from  the 
Pyrenees,  from  the  Alps,  from  the  North-East, 
from  all  sides. 

These  overwhelming  difficulties  seemed  to 
bring  new  inspiration  to  the  military  genius  of 
Napoleon.  In  January,  1814,  fighting  in  the 
same  ground  which  has  now  been  disputed  for 
four  years,  he  beat  the  Prussians  on  the  Marne, 
at  Montmirail,  at  Craonne  and  at  Rheims;  he 
triumphed  over  the  Russians,  the  Prussians  and 
the  Swedes;  at  Montereau  he  crushed  the  Aus- 
trians  and  forced  them  to  fall  back  upon  Troyes. 

Once  more,  as  in  the  days  of  Attila,  in  451,  as 
in  the  days  of  Von  Kluck  in  1914,  the  enemies' 
troops  massed  at  Chalons,  prepared  to  descend 
upon  Paris  by  the  valleys  of  the  Seine  and  of  the 
Marne.  On  March  30,  1814,  Napoleon,  hasten- 
ing with  all  speed  to  the  capital,  learned  that 
Paris  had  surrendered.  He  was  vanquished  by 
his  foes,  abandoned  by  his  friends;  his  generals 
themselves  had  failed  him.  The  Senate  pro- 
nounced his  downfall. 

On  April  n,  1814,  Napoleon  signed  his  ab- 
dication in  the  Palace  of  Fontainebleau,  where 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  135 

he  had  once  held  the  Pope  as  prisoner,  and  where 
he  had  spent  the  first  hours  of  his  imperial  ex- 
istence after  his  manage  with  the  Archduchess, 
Marie-Louise. 

Napoleon,  with  several  of  his  faithful  follow- 
ers and  a  few  soldiers,  embarked  for  the  Island 
of  Elba,  off  the  French  coast  in  the  Mediterran- 
ean, where  he  was  to  be  kept  a  prisoner  by  his 
enemies. 

An  attempt  was  then  made  to  restore  the  old 
regime.  One  of  the  brothers  of  Louis  XVI, 
under  the  title  of  Louis  XVIII,  became  King  of 
France.  (Louis  XVII  was  the  unfortunate  son 
of  Louis  XVI ;  a  child  at  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, he  was  cast  into  prison,  and  tortured  by  his 
brutal  keepers.  His  final  destiny  remains  a  mys- 
tery: no  one  knows  in  reality  what  became  of  this 
heir  to  the  throne  of  France.) 

There  was  a  radical  difference  between  the 
power  as  exercised  by  the  last  King  of  France, 
Louis  XVI  and  his  successor,  Louis  XVIII. 
Louis  XVIII,  conscious  of  the  transformation 
which  the  Revolution  had  wrought  in  public  opin- 
ion, did  not  pretend  to  be  sovereign  by  divine 
right;  he  established  a  representative  government 
composed  of  the  King,  a  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
and  a  House  of  Lords. 

This  measure  was  wise  but  it  was  accompanied 
by  others  which  were  disastrous  for  the  cause  of 
a  liberal  monarchy:  Louis  XVIII  replaced  the 
red,  white  and  blue  flag  by  the  white  flag  of  the 


136    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

pre-revolutionary  Royalists;  he  endeavored  as 
far  as  possible  to  reestablish  the  privileges  of  the 
aristocracy.  As  it  was  upon  this  very  question 
that  the  guillotine  had  been  called  into  action,  he 
could  not  hope  for  popularity.  Moreover  he  re- 
tired the  officers  of  Napoleon's  armies  on  half 
pay  and  he  gave  the  places  of  favor  to  the  nobles 
who  had  emigrated  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

Napoleon,  well  acquainted  with  the  growing 
hostility  which  the  people  felt  toward  Louis 
XVIII,  considered  the  moment  propitious  for 
him  to  attempt  a  coup  d'Etat.  He  escaped  from 
the  island  of  Elba.  He  landed  on  the  coast  of 
France  near  Nice,  at  Gulf  Joan  and  reached 
Paris  on  March  20,  1815.  His  entry  was  tri- 
umphal. His  marvelous  personality  seemed  once 
more  to  electrify  all  who  came  in  contact  with 
him.  The  troops  who  had  been  sent  to  resist 
him,  as  soon  as  he  appeared  fell  at  his  feet  with 
wild  enthusiasm. 

Louis  XVIII  escaped  to  Ghent  in  Belgium. 
Napoleon  was  again  the  master.  His  domina- 
tion was  to  last  for  One  Hundred  Days. 

Convinced  that  he  could  appease  his  enemies 
as  he  had  captivated  those  of  his  former  follow- 
ers, who  had  momentarily  been  untrue  to  him, 
Napoleon  vowed  strictly  to  observe  the  treaty 
which  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  co-allied  powers. 
But  these  powers  did  not  even  listen  to  his  propo- 
sitions. They  determined  upon  immediate  action 
against  this  man  of  genius.  Bliicher  took  com- 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  137 

mand  of  the  Prussians,  Wellington  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  English.  These  armies  were  to 
join  forces  in  Belgium,  while  waiting  for  the 
Austrians  and  Russians  to  arrive  on  the  eastern 
frontier  of  France. 

Hoping  to   keep   the   Prussians   and  English 
from  massing  their  forces,  Napoleon  immediately 


The   Battle  of  Waterloo. 

took  the  offensive.  He  beat  the  Prussians  at 
Ligny,  on  June  16,  1815,  and  was  about  to  attack 
the  English. 

In  spite  of  the  torrential  rain  which  made  the 
roads  almost  impassable,  Napoleon,  with  his 
armies,  arrived  the  following  day — June  17 — on 
the  famous  plateau  near  Waterloo.  Wellington, 
who  had  preceded  him,  had  already  drawn  his 
troops  up  on  the  most  favorable  positions:  slight 
eminences  gave  him  the  advantage  both  for  at- 
tack and  for  observation. 


i38    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

June  1 8,  1815,  marks  a  never-to-be  forgotten 
date :  the  Battle  of  Waterloo. 

At  one  moment  it  seemed  that  Napoleon  was 
the  victor,  but  the  forces  of  his  enemies  were 


The   Dome  of  the   Invalides,   in    Paris. 

increased  disastrously  for  him  by  the  arrival  of 
the  Prussian  army  under  Bliicher.  The  scenes 
of  this  battle  are  known  to  every  school-boy;  the 
heroism  of  the  French  remains  legendary. 

Fighting   to   the    end,    the    Old    Guard,    Na- 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  139 

poleon's  Imperial  Guard,  were  rallied  to  the  last 

man  by  the  resounding  appeal  of  their  general: 
"The  Guard  dies,  it  does  not  surrender!" 
Napoleon     vanquished:     these     two     words 

seemed  a  contradiction. 

On  June  22,   1815,  for  the  second  time,  the 

Senate  forced  the  Emperor  to  abdicate.  Counting 


The  Tomb  of  Napoleon  in  the  Invalides. 

upon  the  generosity  of  the  English,  he  gave  him- 
self up  to  them  as  prisoner.  But  they  exiled  him 
to  the  far  distant  island  of  Saint  Helena,  where 
he  died  on  May  21,  1821. 

During  this  essentially  military  period  there 
were  few  writers  whose  names  are  to  be  remem- 
bered, aside  from  those  of  Chateaubriand  and 
Madame  de  Stael. 

The  prestige  of  these  twenty  years  of  war  re- 
mains with  the  leaders  of  Napoleon's  armies: 


i4o    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

Ney,  Soult,  Lannes,  Murat,  Berthier,  Davout, 
etc.,  fourteen  field-marshals  in  all. 

The  only  remarkable  scientific  method  estab- 
lished during  such  trying  hostilities  was  that  of 
Cuvier,  a  French  scholar,  whereby  the  entire 
skeleton  of  a  prehistoric  animal  was  recon- 
structed from  a  few  existing  bones.  Industrial 
chemistry  made  certain  strides:  Chaptal  discov- 
ered a  process  for  manufacturing  alum  and  salt- 
peter, for  steam-bleaching  and  for  dyeing  cotton, 
or  making  Turkey-red,  as  it  is  called.  The  first 
work-rooms  were  opened  by  Richard  and  Lenoir 
for  the  spinning  and  weaving  of  cotton.  These 
men  and  others,  who  perfected  minor  inventions, 
were  the  pioneers  of  modern  industry. 

After  the  exceeding  grace  manifested,  during 
the  reigns  of  Louis  XV  and  Louis  XVI,  in  the 
arts  of  painting  and  house  decoration,  there  was 
a  classic  reaction,  which  gave  an  appearance  al- 
most of  military  severity  to  all  the  productions 
of  the  Empire.  The  groups  of  artisans  who  had 
worked  with  an  unbroken  tradition  until  the  end 
of  the  1 8th  century  had  been  disorganized  by  the 
Revolution. 

THE     RESTORATION 

It  was  perhaps  inevitable  that  a  second  resto- 
ration of  the  monarchy  should  now  be  attempted. 
The  enemies  entered  Paris  on  July  5,1815,  fol- 
lowed three  days  later  by  Louis  XVIII,  who  was 
again  made  King. 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  141 

The  situation  in  France  was  terrible.  Defeat 
had  added  to  the  general  political  confusion.  It 
was  difficult  for  a  people  to  react  after  so  many 
years  of  constant  war  with  its  attendant  miseries 
and  depletion,  followed  by  the  victory  of  enemies 
who  included  almost  all  the  powers  of  Europe. 

The  treaty  signed  by  the  French  on  November 
20,  1815,  forced  them  to  yield  territory  in  the 
north  and  the  east,  to  pay  an  indemnity  of  700,- 
000,000  francs,  and  for  five  years  to  support 
150,000  enemy  soldiers  on  their  own  soil.  These 
foreign  troops,  quartered  in  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages among  the  people  who  were  obliged  to 
lodge  and  feed  them,  comported  themselves  with- 
out scruple,  pillaging  even  the  public  monuments 
and  museums. 

The  bitterness  felt  in  some  regions  by  the  more 
conservative  of  the  population  caused  occasional 
violent  outbreaks.  The  Royalists  laid  the  blame 
for  the  afflictions  of  France  on  the  partisans  of 
the  Revolution  and  the  Empire.  In  certain  de- 
partments there  was  almost  a  civil  war.  Indeed 
the  ultra-royalist  party  went  to  such  extremes 
that  the  King,  Louis  XVIII,  became  alarmed, 
and  took  certain  measures  to  suppress  the  centers 
of  reaction. 

Finally,  in  1818,  French  territory  was  evacu- 
ated definitely  by  the  enemies'  troops.  But  the 
state  of  unrest  was  too  deep-seated  for  a  peaceful 
period  to  ensue  at  once. 

On  February  13,  1820,  a  member  of  the  royal 


142    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


1829  1836  1840   1848   1850   1854   1863   1869 


family  was  assassinated  by  a  workman.  The 
liberal  party  were  accused  by  the  ultra-royalists 
of  complicity  in  the  crime  and  the  freedom  of 
the  press  and  individual  liberty  were  at  once  sup- 
pressed. Many  secret  societies  were  founded 
by  the  Liberals,  the  most  notable  among  them  be- 
ing the  celebrated  Carbonari. 

In  1824,  Louis  XVIII  died  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  brother  Charles  X.  During  his  reign, 
France  took  part  in  the  Revolution  which  Greece 
was  fighting  to  gain  freedom  from  Turkish  dom- 
ination. 

France  also  became  mistress  at  this  time  of 
the  province  of  Algiers,  in  Africa. 

In  1830,  the  old  revolutionary  longing  for  lib- 
erty and  independence  again  broke  out  stronger 
than  ever.  Charles  X,  obliged  by  the  people  to 
abandon  the  throne,  died  in  exile. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Louis-Philippe,  son  of 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  Philippe-Egalite,  who  had 
voted  the  death  of  the  King  at  the  time  of  the 
Revolution. 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  143 

Louis-Philippe  occupied  the  throne  for  eight- 
een years  ( 1 830-48 ) .  During  this  time  there  was 
less  attention  given  to  governing  the  nation  than 
to  discussing  how  it  should  be  ruled.  Aside  from 
an  expedition  of  50,000  troops  dispatched  to 
help  Belgium  win  her  freedom  from  Holland, 
and  the  definitive  occupation  of  Algiers,  there 
was  for  the  time  being  a  peaceful  reaction  after 
so  many  years  of  war.  The  direct  effect  upon  lit- 
erature was  the  creation  of  a  romantic  school. 
The  poets  and  writers  of  this  period  are  re- 
nowned: Victor  Hugo,  Lamartine,  Alfred  de 
Musset,  Alfred  de  Vigny  were  equally  remark- 
able as  poets,  playwrights  and  novelists;  Scribe 
devoted  his  lively  wits  to  composing  comedies 
which  have  diverted  society  for  three  genera- 
tions; Sainte-Beuve  won  a  great  name  as  critic 
and  portraitist;  Thiers,  Augustin  Thierry, 
Guizot,  Mignet,  Michelet  were  the  authors  of 
delightful  histories  relating  to  various  epochs  of 
French  history. 

In  spite  of  the  broad  principles  of  individual 
rights  which  had  been  elaborated  by  the  leaders 
of  the  Revolution,  only  the  rich  at  this  time  were 
entitled  to  vote.  The  people  intended  that 
every  honest  French  man,  rich  or  poor,  should  be 
an  elector.  The  King  was  opposed  to  this  idea. 
So,  in  1848,  a  new  uprising  made  it  necessary 
for  Louis-Philippe  to  escape  from  France.  He 
died  an  exile.  The  Second  Republic  was  pro- 


144    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

claimed  and  the  nephew  of  Napoleon  I,  Louis- 
Napoleon,  was  elected  President. 


THE  SECOND  EMPIRE 


Three  years  later  Louis-Napoleon  overthrew 
the  Republic  and,  in  1852,  he  had  himself  named 


Napoleon  III,  Emperor. 


Emperor  of  the  French,  under  the  title  of  Na- 
poleon III. 

For  this  coup  d'fitat  of  1851  Napoleon  chose 
the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Austerlitz,  De- 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  145 

cember  2,  when  his  uncle,  Napoleon  I,  had  scored 
a  brilliant  victory  against  the  Austrians.  Paris 
awoke  on  that  bright  winter  morning  to  find  that 
the  government  had  changed  during  the  night 
from  a  republic  to  an  empire.  So  radical  a  trans- 
formation was  not  accomplished  without  some 
brutality.  There  were  political  victims,  worse 
than  that,  there  were  innocent  women  and  chil- 
dren killed  in  the  streets  of  the  city  by  the  sol- 
diers of  Napoleon  III,  who  had  determined  to 
establish  his  authority  as  emperor. 

His  reign,  begun  by  an  act  of  violence,  was  to 
end  by  a  war  disastrous  to  France.  To  be  sure, 
ever  since  the  days  of  the  Revolution,  whatever 
the  regime,  there  had  been  a  gradual  betterment 
of  material  and  social  conditions  among  the 
French  people.  Various  enterprises  and  reforms, 
inspired  by  the  generous  ideas  of  those  who  love 
liberty  better  than  life,  had  continued  to  develop 
slowly  and  surely.  When  Napoleon  had  estab- 
lished himself  as  Emperor,  he  founded  a  conva- 
lescent home  for  workmen,  he  provided  free  dis- 
trict doctors  for  the  poor  people  in  the  country, 
and,  in  the  city,  he  gave  shelters  or  creches,  where 
mothers  could  place  their  babies  in  safe-keeping 
during  working  hours.  Old-age  pensions  were 
constituted  for  laborers.  Commerce  was  made 
free  to  all,  who  could  follow  any  branch  of  trade 
they  chose,  the  railroads  were  extended,  tele- 
graph wires  were  stretched  far  and  wide  over  the 
land,  the  coast  was  marked  out  by  a  system  of 


146    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

lighthouses;  2,000  miles  of  highways  and  75,000 
miles  of  narrower  intersecting  roads  were  built. 
In  1859  work  was  begun  on  the  Isthmus  of  Suez. 
The  piercing  of  this  canal  was  a  prodigious  piece 
of  engineering  due  to  the  genius  of  F.  de  Lesseps, 
and  it  shortened  by  thousands  of  miles  the  route 
between  Europe  and  Asia. 


7 


F.    de    Lesseps. 

Yet,  though  the  French  nation  and  humanity 
at  large  benefited  directly  by  these  accomplish- 
ments, the  fundamental  principle  of  the  imperial 
government  was  in  contradiction  with  the  French 
popular  ideal.  Under  Napoleon  III  the  regime 
was,  as  of  old,  one  of  privilege.  The  court 
formed  a  group  of  favorites.  The  chief  pre- 
occupation of  the  emperor  seems  to  have  been 
to  increase  the  worldly  brilliance  of  France  rather 
than  to  collaborate  with  the  people  in  assuming 
the  responsibilities  of  the  nation.  So,  while  an 
outward  grandeur  was  maintained  by  this  self- 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  147 

elected  emperor,  the  people  at  heart  did  not  sus- 
tain their  sovereign's  aim.  The  breach  between 
him  and  those  he  governed  grew  always  wider. 
The  French  had  been  "bled  white"  during  the 
early  part  of  the  century.  They  wanted  now  to 
work  in  peace. 

Yet  during  the  18  years  Napoleon  III  occupied 
the  throne  he  undertook  aggressive  military  expe- 
ditions in  China,  Cochin-China,  Syria,  as  well  as 
four  important  wars.  The  first  of  these  was 
necessitated  in  1852  by  the  disloyal  attitude  of 
the  Mexicans  toward  the  French,  English  and 
Spanish. 

The  second,  known  as  the  war  of  the  Crimea, 
was  undertaken  in  1854  by  the  French,  English 
and  Turks  against  the  Russians,  who,  it  was 
feared,  might  occupy  Constantinople.  The  Rus- 
sians were  defeated  at  Sebastopol  (1855). 

Meanwhile  the  Italians,  as  at  the  present  mo- 
ment, were  fighting  the  Austrians.  Napoleon 
joined  with  his  neighbors  and  helped  to  rid  Ital- 
ian territory  of  the  long-time  enemy.  He  himself 
led  an  army  of  100,000  troops  over  the  Alps 
and  obtained  two  victories,  at  Magenta  and  at 
Solferino.  France,  as  her  reward  for  this  as- 
sistance, was  given  the  Italian  counties  of  Nice 
and  of  Savoy. 

These  years  both  of  active  military  combat  and 
of  lesser  military  effort,  weakened  the  French 
armies  so  greatly  that,  in  1870,  when  the  war 
broke  out  between  Prussia  and  France,  the 


148    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

French,  after  seven  months  of  heroic  struggle, 
were  defeated. 


THE  FRANCO-GERMAN  WAR 

The  cause  of  the  Franco-German  war  can  be 
traced,  like  that  of  the  present  war,  to  the  Prus- 


The  brilliant  charge  of  the   Cuirassiers  at   Riechshoffen. 
Covering   the   armies   in   retreat   they   were   completely    annihilated. 

sian  autocratic  ambitions.  Bismarck  had,  in 
those  early  days,  conceived  the  idea  of  a  "Welt- 
politik,"  or  a  policy  which  would  make  the 
Hohenzollerns  masters  of  the  entire  world. 

Previous  to  the  year  1866,  Qermany  had  been 
a  confederation  of  principalities  and  duchies,  the 
official  head  of  which  was  the  Emperor  of  Aus- 
tria. In  1866,  after  the  victory  won  by  the  Prus- 
sians over  the  Austrians,  at  Sadowa,  Prussia  be- 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  149 

came  the  dominating  power  of  the  German  con- 
federation. 

In  1870,  as  the  throne  of  Spain  was  momen- 
tarily without  an  heir,  Bismarck  decided  to  con- 
fer this  heritage  upon  a  Prince  of  the  Hohen- 
zollern  dynasty.  Such  a  decision  was  not  ac- 
ceptable to  Napoleon  III.  A  diplomatic  discus- 
sion ensued.  Bismarck,  determined  upon  war, 
deliberately  falsified  a  dispatch  sent  to  him  by 
the  Emperor  of  Prussia  and  which  is  known,  and 
has  become  famous  as  the  "Ems  dispatch."  (Ems 
was  the  watering  place  where  William,  the  grand- 
father of  the  present  Kaiser,  was  taking  a  "cure" 
in  the  month  of  July,  1870,  .when  these  impor- 
tant matters  were  being  decided.)  This  dispatch, 
the  full  text  of  which  is  quoted  in  French  popular 
encyclopedias,  showed  a  decidedly  conciliatory 
tone,  and  the  desire  to  continue  the  discussions  be- 
gun with  France.  As  the  dispatch,  rewritten, 
left  the  hands  of  Bismarck,  it  could  mean  only  a 
direct  rupture  with  Napoleon  III.  The  French 
nation,  which  little  wanted  war,  still  less  could 
tolerate  such  an  insult. 

Thus  war  was  declared  and  fighting  began  on 
August  2,  1870. 

The  Germans  invaded  France  from  the  east- 
ern frontier,  obtaining  victories  at  Wissembourg 
and  at  Reichshoffen.  In  spite  of  their  heroic  re- 
sistance at  Gravelotte  and  Saint-Privat,  the 
French  were  compelled  to  make  a  general  retreat. 
Napoleon  III  was  made  prisoner  at  Sedan,  and 


150    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

shortly  afterward  the  French  people  proclaimed 
his  downfall.  On  September  4,  1870,  for  the 
third  and  last  time  in  less  than  a  century,  the  Re- 
public was  established. 

After  the  disgrace  of  the  Emperor  the  war 
continued.  The  Prussians,  as  to-day,  had  their 
hopes  fixed  upon  Paris.  Their  troops  marched 
on,  advancing  toward  the  capital,  spreading  out 
on  the  roads  to  Soissons,  Compiegne,  Creil, 
Rheims,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Marne,  where 
they  occupied  Epernay,  Montmirail,  Coulom- 
miers,  etc.,  etc.,  finally  completely  surrounding 
Paris. 

THE  SIEGE  OF  PARIS 

The  siege  of  the  capital  began  on  September 
19,  1870.  By  October  21  there  were  250,000 
Germans  outside  the  gates.  Two  things  enabled 
the  city  to  make  an  heroic  resistance  which  sur- 
prised not  only  the  Germans  but  all  of  Europe : 
one  was  the  remarkable  ardor  and  determina- 
tion of  the  civil  population,  who  were  ready  to 
make  every  sacrifice  even  to  that  of  starvation, 
the  other  was  the  improvised  organization  of  an 
army  of  defense. 

The  first  humiliating  military  defeats  had  de- 
moralized the  generals  of  the  Empire.  But  the 
hero  of  the  hour  was  a  man  who  typified  the  spirit 
of  democracy:  Gambetta.  Minister  of  the  Na- 
tional Defense  which,  with  the  republican  govern- 
ment, had  remained  in  the  besieged  capital,  Gam- 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  151 

betta  felt  that  his  services  could  be  of  more  use 
in  some  place  where  he  could  display  greater 
activity.  He  escaped  from  Paris  in  a  balloon. 
In  spite  of  the  aerial  attacks  made  upon  him  in 
his  flight — the  Germans  occupied  at  this  time 
Dreux,  Evreux,  Chartres,  Beauvais,  Amiens, 
Rouen — Gambetta  reached  in  safety  the  town  of 
Tours.  Here,  with  the  assistance  of  able  men 


Gambetta. 


such  as  Freycinet,  and  such  as  the  republican  gen- 
erals, he  succeeded,  after  a  gigantic  effort,  in  call- 
ing together  and  arming  one  million  men,  divided 
into  several  armies  which  distinguished  them- 
selves. They  were  not,  however,  able  to  sur- 
mount the  complications  which  had  resulted  in- 
evitably from  a  radical  change  of  governmental 
regime  during  war  time,  from  a  complete  lack  of 
unity,  and  a  total  absence  of  organization. 

On  January  28,  1871,  an  armistice  was  signed. 
Paris  had  been  obliged  to  capitulate.    For  a  long 


152    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


1870 


1873 


1892    1896       1915         Cyclists        Chauffeurs. 


time,  and  this  during  the  severest  winter  in  many 
years,  there  had  been  neither  food  nor  fuel  in  the 
capital.  The  trees  of  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  had 
been  burned;  horses,  cats,  rats  had  become  the 
rarest  luxuries  on  the  menus  of  certain  once  fash- 
ionable restaurants  which,  with  a  spirited  deter- 
mination to  die  rather  than  to  give  in  to  the 
Boches,  had  kept  their  hospitable  doors  open  to 
the  public.  The  bread  of  the  siege,  samples  of 
which  are  still  to  be  had,  was  kneaded  with  a  mix- 
ture of  bran  and  straw. 

The  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  in  the  beautiful 
Salle  des  Glaces  (Hall  of  the  Mirrors)  in  the 
Palace  of  Versailles,  just  outside  of  Paris,  which 
the  Germans  had  used  as  headquarters  during  the 
siege.  From  this  spot  they  had,  with  the  same 
spirit  which  characterizes  them  to-day,  bom- 
barded the  museums  of  art  and  the  hospitals  of 
Paris. 

The  terms  of  the  treaty  were  hard  for  a  proud 
nation  to  bear:  the  French  were  to  endure  the  oc- 
cupation of  their  territory  by  the  Germans  until 


THE  XIX  CENTURY 


153 


1906  1908  1909  1910  1911  1912  1913  1914  1915  1917  1918 

they  had  paid,  to  the  last  cent,  an  indemnity  of 
one  thousand  million  dollars.  More  cruel  than 
this  was  the  loss  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  the  two 
provinces  which  were  seized  and  definitely  held 
by  the  Germans.  The  French  inhabitants  had  no 
choice  but  to  emigrate  or  to  adopt  German  na- 
tionality, and  to  speak  the  German  language. 
French  was  forbidden  in  the  schools. 

One  of  the  very  principles  for  which  the  Allies 
are  fighting  to-day  is  that  a  victorious  nation, 
victorious  through  a  war  of  conquest,  shall  not 
be  allowed  to  impose  upon  the  people  it  has  con- 
quered a  nationality  or  a  language  other  than 
their  own.  The  national  aspirations  of  the  Alsa- 
tians and  the  Lorrains  have  never  been  German, 
nor  in  sympathy  with  German  despotism  and 
autocracy.  Freedom  will  be  brought  to  these 
long  suffering  people  when  the  final  military  vic- 
tory is  won  over  the  dynasty  of  the  Hohenzol- 
lerns. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  Versailles  a 
feeling  of  rage  swept  over  France.  The  people 


154    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

had  not  lost  courage ;  though  they  were  at  the  end 
of  many  months  of  war,  and  though  they  had 
been  defeated,  they  paid  the  war  indemnity  from 
their  personal  savings — one  thousand  million  dol- 
lars— in  five  months'  time.  They  had  determined 
moreover  that,  whatever  the  cost,  they  would  now 
organize  themselves  in  such  a  way  as  to  render 
impossible  the  return  of  a  despot,  however  lib- 
eral. 

THE  THIRD  REPUBLIC 

On  March  18,  1871,  the  people  of  Paris,  who 
had  been  the  keenest  sufferers  during  the  war, 
proclaimed  the  Commune  and  started  an  insur- 
rection which  lasted  until  the  end  of  May.  The 
guillotine  was  not  brought  into  use,  but  there 
were  acts  committed  of  terrible  violence.  Before 
order  was  established  about  30,000  persons  per- 
ished. A  Republic  was  proclaimed  which  has 
lasted  ever  since. 

The  first  presidency  of  the  Third  Republic  was 
confided  to  the  great  French  statesman:  Thiers. 
He  undertook  the  organization  of  the  country 
and  was  so  successful  that  for  a  time  he  was 
looked  upon  as  the  liberator  of  France.  As  early 
as  September,  1872,  the  last  soldier  of  the  army 
of  occupation  had  been  sent  back  to  Germany. 
A  government  loan  launched  at  this  time,  and 
which  was  the  second  since  the  conclusion  of  the 
war,  was  oversubscribed  fourteen  times. 

This  was  only  one  of  the  manifestations  of  the 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  155 

high  spirit  with  which  the  French  determined  at 
once  to  react  from  their  defeat.  The  civil  up- 
risings which  had  definitely  established  the  Re- 
public, had  subsided  only  toward  the  end  of  May, 
1871.  It  was  four  years  (1875)  before  a  Con- 
stitution, acceptable  to  all,  had  been  formulated. 
Yet  in  1878,  Paris,  like  a  gracious  hostess, 
opened  her  doors  to  the  world.  The  French  Gov- 


Thiers,  First  President  Sadi-Carnot,  President  of 

of  the  Third  Republic.  the  French  Republic. 

ernment  inaugurated  a  brilliant  Fair,  or  Uni- 
versal Exhibition,  in  which  all  the  nations  of 
Europe,  as  well  as  America  and  the  Colonies, 
participated. 

The  Palace  of  the  Trocadero,  built  for  this 
occasion,  remains  as  a  souvenir  of  this  revival  of 
industrial  energy  in  France.  It  is  approached 
by  a  broad  avenue,  formerly  called  the  Avenue 
du  Trocadero,  but  to  which  the  French  have  now 
given  the  name  of  "President  Wilson." 


156    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

Eleven  years  later,  Paris  again  became  the 
center  for  a  World's  Fair  which  was  opened  in 
1889,  by  President  Carnot.  He  was  the  grand- 
son of  the  patriotic  Carnot,  who  had  been  one  of 
the  active  instigators  of  the  Revolution. 

The  astonishing  feature  of  the  exhibition  of 
1889  was  the  Eiffel  Tower.  It  is  still  the  tallest 
structure  in  the  world,  measuring  984  feet,  which 
is  almost  double  the  height  of  the  Washington 
Monument. 

Throughout  the  Nineteenth  century  the  rulers 
of  France,  whatever  the  political  party  to  which 
they  belonged,  showed  an  especial  pride  in  beauti- 
fying the  capital,  Paris.  Napoleon  I  (1805-1806) 
erected  the  triumphal  arch  which  stands  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Champs-Elysees.  This  "Arc  de 
1'Etoile"  is  the  largest  of  its  sort  in  the  world. 
On  the  facade  of  one  of  the  side  arches  the  carv- 
ing in  high-relief  by  Rude  represents  the  volun- 
teers of  the  Revolution  marching  to  victory.  The 
twelve  avenues  which  lead  to  the  Arc  de  1'Etoile 
were  named  for  the  greatest  battles  and  the  most 
renowned  generals  of  the  Revolution  and  the 
First  Empire  :  Jena,  Wagram,  Friedland,  Hoche, 
Marceau,  etc. 

Napoleon  III,  in  turn,  added  considerably  to 
the  beauty  and  to  the  practical  convenience  of 
Paris.  Certain  of  the  city's  very  old  quarters  still 
give  an  idea  of  the  picturesque  but  unsanitary  con- 
ditions in  which  many  Parisians  were  formerly 
obliged  to  live.  Whole  blocks  of  houses  were  re- 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  157 

placed  during  the  Second  Empire  by  broad  boule- 
vards, by  squares  and  parks,  among  them  the 
Boulevards  Saint-Michel,  Saint-Germain,  Hauss- 
mann,  familiar  to  all  Americans. 

The  Paris  Opera  House  is  also  due  to  the  in- 
spiration of  Napoleon  III.  Although  it  seats 
only  2,158  people,  it  covers  almost  three  acres 
of  ground  and  is  the  largest  theater  in  the  world. 
The  sumptuous  staircase  and  the  very  magnificent 
foyer  are  typical  expressions  of  the  voluntarily 
imposing  taste  of  the  Second  Empire. 

Another  gift  for  which  the  world  may  be  grate- 
ful to  Napoleon  III  is  that  of  the  Bois  de  Bou- 
logne, a  park  of  2,250  acres  (nearly  three  times 
as  large  as  Central  Park  in  New  York). 

The  charm  of  the  Bois  lies  in  its  stretches  of 
woodland,  which  make  it  seem  like  a  small  forest 
at  the  very  gates  of  Paris.  The  Avenue  du  Bois 
de  Boulogne  is  famous  as  the  rendezvous  of  fash- 
ion during  the  Paris  "Season."  It  is  420  feet 
wide  and  stretches  from  the  Arc  de  1'Etoile  to  the 
entrance  of  the  Bois. 

At  the  time  of  the  last  Exposition  Universelle, 
in  1900,  Paris  was  again  made  more  perfect  by 
the  opening  of  a  magnificent  avenue  which  spans 
the  river  and  joins  the  Champs-Elysees  with  the 
Invalides.  The  bridge  Alexandre  III,  and  the 
two  Palaces  which  flank  it,  are  as  fine  as  any  con- 
tribution to  modern  municipal  architecture. 
*  *  * 

In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  Germans  to  im- 


158    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

pose  their  point  of  view  upon  the  intellects  of  the 
universe,  the  most  sympathetic  figure  of  the  scien- 
tific world  during  the  last  century  is  unquestion- 
ably the  French  chemist's  and  bacteriologist, 
Pasteur. 

Pasteur  was  born  in  Dole,  near  Dijon,  in  1822, 
in  a  small  house  where  his  father  made  a  humble 
living  as  a  tanner.  A  few  years  ago,  the  Ameri- 
can millionaire  John  D.  Rockefeller  happened  to 
see  this  house  as  he  was  automobiling  through 
Dole.  He  stopped  long  enough  to  buy  it  and  give 
it  to  the  little  town  which  was  proud  and  grateful 
to  make  of  it  a  museum  of  souvenirs.  Pasteur's 
father  had  been  one  of  Napoleon's  brave  sol- 
diers. He  had  won  a  decoration  for  his  gallant 
conduct  on  the  battlefield.  One  of  the  sentiments 
commemorated  by  the  children  of  Dole  to-day  is 
the  love  of  their  great  Pasteur  for  his  father 
and  for  his  mother. 

Though  Pasteur  made  many  discoveries,  such 
as  a  perfected  system  for  filtering  water  and  for 
the  conservation  of  beer,  etc.,  etc. — he  gave  these 
inventions  to  the  public,  preferring  to  die  poor 
rather  than  to  commercialize  science,  which  he 
believed  should  belong  to  all. 

His  most  important  contribution  toward  the  re- 
lief of  human  suffering  was  that  of  the  vaccine 
against  hydrophobia. 

Unlike  the  German  bacteriologists  who  are  as- 
sociated only  with  microbes,  Pasteur  was  first  of 
all  a  humanitarian.  He  believed  religiously  in 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  159 

God  and  he  loved  his  fellow  men.  The  nobility 
of  his  character,  the  serenity  of  his  personality 
attracted  every  one  who  approached  him.  His 
theories  revolutionized  modern  science. 


Pasteur.  Victor  Hugo. 

A  personage  of  equal  grandeur  in  the  literary 
world  of  the  XIX  century  was  Victor  Hugo.  His 
father,  a  General  in  the  French  army,  was  a  na- 
tive of  Lorraine.  Victor  Hugo  was  born  in  1802, 
in  the  picturesque  town  of  Besancon.  For  three 
quarters  of  a  century  he  filled  the  world  with  the 
beauty  of  his  songs,  in  poetry  and  in  prose,  his 
dramas,  his  novels. 

It  is  true  that  the  literature  of  a  country  fol- 
lows rather  than  creates  its  political  movements. 
Victor  Hugo's  writings  were  the  expression  in 
fiction  of  the  struggle  which  had  overwhelmed 
society  for  a  hundred  years.  He  symbolized  the 
conflict  of  privilege  and  responsibility.  In  his 


160    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

immortal  story,  The  Miserables,  he  chose  as  his 
hero,  Jean  Valjean,  a  criminal  who  had  been  un- 
justly condemned  to  long  years  of  service  in  the 
galleys,  but  who,  once  free  again,  bore  in  his  ever 
human  heart  the  longing  for  love.  The  regenera- 
tion of  Jean  Valjean  begins  through  the  chance 


The  Great  Opera  House  in  Paris. 

encounter  with  a  man  who  embodies  the  demo- 
cratic and  humanitarian  principles  for  which  the 
French  have  fought  repeatedly  since  the  days  of 
their  first  Revolution. 

Thus,  whether  it  be  in  science  or  in  letters,  the 
vision  of  the  great  French  men  never  fails  to 
grasp  and  to  become  the  exponent  of  the  suffer- 
ing which  love  and  human  tenderness  alone  can 
remedy. 

The  political  Constitution  adopted  on  Febru- 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  161 


ary  25,  1875,  'ls  ^ill  'n  vigor.  By  its  terms  the 
President  is  named  for  seven  years.  He  is  not 
elected  by  direct,  popular  vote,  but  by  the  Sena- 
tors and  Deputies  united  in  a  National  Assembly, 
or  Congress,  held  at  Versailles. 

At  the  last  general  election  in  May,  1914, 
there  were  602  Deputies  chosen.  Since  the  war, 
there  have  been  no  elections,  not  even  to  replace 
the  members  of  both  Houses  who  have  died  or 
been  killed  in  action.  In  peace  times,  the  Cham- 
ber is  renewed  entirely  every  four  years. 

One  third  of  the  300  Senators  who  compose 
the  Upper  House  are  renewed  every  three  years, 
the  full  term  being  nine  years. 

The  principal  difference  between  our  govern- 
ment and  that  of  France  is  that  the  President 
names  only  his  Prime  Minister,  who  in  turn  has 
full  power  to  appoint  his  cabinet  officers.  The 
individual  ministers,  of  Finance,  of  War,  of  Jus- 
tice, etc.,  all  take  part  in  the  political  discus- 
sions at  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  at  which  they 
must  be'  present,  even  though  they  need  not 
necessarily  be  themselves  members  of  the  Cham- 
ber. 

The  President  never  appears  at  either  House. 
He  promulgates  the  laws  voted  by  both  Houses, 
and  ensures  their  execution.  He  has  not  the  right 
of  veto,  but  he  can,  with  the  consent  of  the  Sen- 
ate, dissolve  the  Chamber  of  Deputies;  in  this 
case,  which  has  occurred  only  once,  new  elections 
take  place  immediately. 


1 62    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

The  President  of  the  French  Republic  to-day  is 
Raymond  Poincare  (born  1856).  He  was  elected 
in  1913.  The  house  in  which  the  President  lives 


The  Eiffel  Tower. 

during  his  term  of  office  is  the  Palace  of  the 
Elysee,  in  the  Faubourg  Saint-Honore,  Paris. 

The  somewhat  restricted  personal  power  of 
the  President  is  the  only  remaining  indication 
that  the  French  still  feel  the  lurking  dread  of  a 


I63 


164    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

dictator.  It  is  true  that  the  divisions  in  the  two 
Houses,  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  the  Sen- 
ate, are  made,  not  on  commercial  questions  such 
as  free  trade,  nor  on  moral  questions  such  as 
temperance,  but  on  purely  political  matters,  on 
matters  of  governmental  form.  A  glance  at  the 
House  in  session  shows  that  class  distinction  still 
exists  in  France  as  one  of  the  heritages  of  the 
system  of  privilege. 

The  task  of  those  who  have  directed  the  des- 
tinies of  the  nation  since  1871  has  been  twofold: 
to  maintain  the  political  balance  in  favor  of  dem- 
ocratic ideals,  and  to  determine,  legally,  the 
greatest  possible  social  progress.  The  various  in- 
stitutions of  every  sort,  public  instruction,  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  railroads,  the  development  of 
French  industries,  the  growth  of  the  French  cities, 
stand  to-day  as  the  enduring  evidence  of  the 
nation-wide  growth,  material,  intellectual  and 
moral,  that  has  steadily  been  accomplished  under 
the  fostering  guidance  of  these  ideals. 

The  way  in  which  the  "poilus"  have  comported 
themselves  on  the  battlefield  during  this  war,  the 
presence  among  them  of  such  leaders  as  Joffre, 
Petain,  Foch,  Maunoury,  Castelnau,  Mangin, 
Gouraud,  etc.,  etc.,  attest  sufficiently  to  the  fact 
that  the  French,  individually  and  collectively,  are 
great  enough  to  live  up  to  the  magnificent  ideals 
set  forth  throughout  their  whole  long  history,  and 
summarized  in  the  watch  words  of  their  Revolu- 
tion: Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity  1 


President  POINCARE. 


JOFFRE, 
French  Generalissimo,  1914-1916. 


FOCH,  General  PETAIN, 

Generalissimo  of  the  Allied  Armies.  French  Generalissimo,  1917-191? 


165 


166    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


THE   FRENCH    COLONIES 

The  French  colonies  and  protectorates  are 
spread  about  in  various  parts  of  the  world  and 
they  cover  an  area  of  about  4.000,000  square 
miles  in  all,  with  a  population,  native  and  white, 
of  44,600,000  souls. 

The  Report  of  the  Budget  Commission  for 
1914  gives  the  following  details  concerning  the 
area  and  population  of  the  colonial  domain  of 

France : 

IN  ASIA:  SQ.  M.  POP. 

India  (Pondichery,  etc.) 196         273,000 

Annam,  Cambodia,  Cochin-China,  Ton- 
king,  Laos 309,980     14,500,000 

IN  AFRICA: 

Algeria 222,067  5,563,828 

Sahara  1,544,000  800,000 

Tunis  . 45.799  1,878,620 

Senegal 1,250,000 

Upper  Senegal  and  Niger. .  % 5,100,000 

Guinea LT,ar«r«  1,900,000 

Ivory  Coast '«t5*I»»»  i)40O,ooo 

Dahomey 900,000 

Mauritania J  250,000 

Congo  553,030  3,900,000 

Reunion  970  1 74,000 

Madagascar  226,015  3,258,000 

Mayotte  840  94,400 

Somali  Coast 5>79O  14,000 

IN  AMERICA: 

Saint  Pierre  and  Miquelon 96  4,200 

Gaudeloupe 688  212,500 

Martinique   378  185,000 

Guiana   31,060  48,800 

IN  OCEANIA: 
New  Caledonia,  Tahiti,  etc |          8,744  '        81,100 


THE  XIX  CENTURY  167 

The  French  possessions  in  India,  in  America, 
and  part  of  those  in  Senegal,  have  belonged  to 
France  for  about  three  hundred  years.  All  the 
other  colonies  have  been  acquired  since  the  mid- 
dle of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  Ministry  of 
the  Colonies  controls  the  administration  of  the 
colonies  which,  however,  exercise  some  measure 
of  self-government.  The  older  colonies  have  di- 
rect representatives  in  the  French  legislature: 
Reunion,  Martinique  and  Guadeloupe  send  each 
a  senator  and  two  deputies  to  Congress;  Senegal, 
Guiana  and  Cochin-China  each  a  deputy,  etc.  (It 
will  be  remembered  that  thus  far  no  British 
Colony  has  ever  had  a  representative  in  the  Eng- 
lish Parliament.) 

Algiers,  the  most  valuable  of  the  French  pos- 
sessions, outside  of  France,  is  considered  not  as 
a  colony,  but  as  a  part  of  the  mother  country. 
Tunis  and  Morocco  are  attached  to  the  Ministry 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  somewhat  in  the  manner  of 
our  territories. 

The  colonial  army,  which  has  played  a  brilliant 
part  in  the  present  war,  is  entirely  distinct  from 
the  metropolitan  army.  It  consists  partly  of 
white,  partly  of  native  troops.  The  colonial 
troops  are  recruited  principally  by  voluntary  en- 
listment, but  conscription  is  applied  in  West 
Africa  when  the  case  demands. 

Before  the  War  the  number  of  the  troops  in 
Algiers  and  Tunis  was  about  85,000;  in  the  re- 
mainder of  the  colonial  army  there  was  a  total 


1 68    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

of  about  60,000  men.  It  is  impossible  to  state 
what  the  figures  are  at  the  present  date,  but  every 
one  has  remarked  the  loyalty  of  these  overseas 
troops,  some  of  them  black  men  from  the  heart 
of  Africa.  They  have  adopted  France  as  their 
mother  country  and  they  give  their  lives  glori- 
ously in  her  defense. 


TABLE 
OF  THE  RULERS  OF  FRANCE 


THE  MEROVINGIANS 

Clodion    about  428 

Merovee,   his   son 448-458 

Childeric  I,  his  son 458-481 

Clovis,    his   son 481-511 

The  sons  of  Clovis 511-561 

The  sons  and  grandsons  of  Clotaire  1 561-678 

Dagobert  1 628-638 

The  Lazy  Kings  and  the  Mayors  of  the  Palace 638-751 

THE  CAROLINGIANS 

Pepin  le  Bref  (the  Short)      752-768 

Charlemagne,  his  son 768-814 

Louis  I,  le  Debonnaire  (the  Light-Hearted),  his  son.  814-840 

Charles  II,  le  Chauve   (the  Bald),  his  son 840-877 

Louis  II,  le  Begue  (the  Stammerer),  his  son 877-879 

Louis  III  and  Carloman,   his  sons 879-884 

Charles  le  Gros   (the  Fat) 884-887 

Eudes,  Duke  of  the  Franks 887-898 

Charles  III,    (the  Simple),  son  of  Louis  II 898-922 

The  last  Carolingians 922-987 

THE  CAPETIANS 

Hugues  Capet   987-996 

Robert  II,  le  Pieux  (the  Pious),  his  son 996-1031 

Henri  I,  his  son 1031-1060 

Philippe  I,  his  son 1060-1 108 

Louis  VI,  le  Gros  (the  Fat),  his  son 1108-1137 

Louis  VII,  le  Jeune  (the  Young),  his  son 1137-1180 

169 


170    A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


Philippe  II   Auguste,  his  son 1180-1223 

Louis  VIII,  his  son 1223-1226 

Louis  IX   (Saint  Louis),  his  son 1226-1270 

Philippe  III,  le  Hardi   (the  Bold),  his  son 1270-1285 

Philippe  IV,  le  Bel   (the  Beautiful),  his  son 1285-1314 

Louis  X,  le  Hutin  (the  Headstrong),  his  son 1314-1316 

Philippe  V,  le  Long  (the  Tall),  his  brother 1316-1322 

Charles  IV,  le  Bel  (the  Beautiful),  his  brother....  1322-1328 

THE  CAPETIANS-VALOIS 

(Descended  from  Charles  de  Valois,  brother 
of  Philippe  le  Bel.) 

Philippe  VI  de  Valois  (nephew  of  Philip  IV)....  1328-1350 

Jean  II,  le  Bon  (the  Good),  his  son 1350-1364 

Charles  V,  le  Sage  (the  Wise),  his  SJH 1364-1380 

Charles  VI,  his  son 1380-1422 

Charles  VII,  his  son 1422-1461 

Louis  XI,  his  son 1461-1483 

Charles  VIII,  his  son 1483-1498 

THE  CAPETIANS-VALOIS-ORLEANS 

Louis  XII    (grandson  of  Louis  d'Orleans,  brother 

of  Charles  VI) 1498-1515 

THE  CAPETIANS-VALOIS-ANGOULEME 

Francois  I   (grandson  of  Louis  d'Orleans) 1515-1547 

Henri  II,  his  son i547-I559 

Frangois  II,  his  son 1559-1560 

Charles  IX,  his  brother 1560-1574 

Henri  III,  his  brother 1574-1589 

THE  CAPETIANS-BOURBONS 

(Descended  from  Robert,  count  of  Clermont, 
6th  son  of  Saint  Louis.) 

Henri  IV 1589-1610 

Louis  XIII,  his  son 1610-1643 

Louis  XIV,  his  son 1643-1715 

Louis  XV,   his  great-grandson 1715-1774 

Louis  XVI,  his  grandson 1774-1793 


RULERS  OF  FRANCE  171 


THE  REVOLUTION   (1789-1792) 

The  Republic  1792-1799 

The  Consulate  (Napoleon  Bonaparte  First  Consul)      1799-1804 

THE  FIRST  EMPIRE 

Napoleon  I,  Emperor 1804-1814-1815 

THE  RESTORATION 

Louis  XVIII,   brother  of  Louis  XVI 1814-1824 

Charles  X,  his  brother 1824-1830 

BOURBONS-ORLEANS 

(Descended  from  Philippe  d'Orleans, 
brother  of  Louis  XIV.) 

Louis-Philippe   1 1830-1848 

THE  SECOND  REPUBLIC   (1848-1852) 
THE  SECOND  EMPIRE 

Napoleon  III,  Emperor 1852-1870 

THE  THIRD  REPUBLIC 

The  Republic   (September  4) 1870 

Thiers  (President) 1871-1873 

Mac-Mahon    —         1873-1879 

Jules  Grevy   —         1879-1887 

Sadi-Carnot    —         1887-1894 

Casimir-Perier  ...         —         1894-1895 

Felix  Faure —         1895-1899 

Emile  Loubet —         1899-1906 

Armand  Fallieres.         —         1906-1913 

Raymond  Poincare        —         1913 


A    000  035  927     3 


